[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2671]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO DR. FRANK CHEATHAM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
accomplished educator from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Dr. Frank 
Cheatham is the senior vice president for academic affairs and 
professor of math and computer science at Campbellsville University. 
His impending retirement in December will conclude a career of over 40 
years devoted to Christian higher education. Campbellsville University 
is an acclaimed university in central Kentucky with more than 3,600 
students that prepares them as Christian servant leaders for life-long 
learning, continued scholarship, and active participation in a diverse, 
global society.
  No more than 20 miles of country road separates Frank's birthplace of 
Merrimac, KY, from the campus on which he has spent the majority of his 
life as both a student and a professor. Dr. Cheatham was born on 
February 3, 1943, to Gladys and the late Jeff Cheatham. Of his eight 
siblings, four went on to become teachers, including his brother, Don, 
who also teaches at Campbellsville.
  Dr. Cheatham wields an impressive arsenal of post-secondary degrees. 
After completing his undergraduate studies at Campbellsville in 1965, 
he continued to earn a master of science from Tennessee Technological 
University, his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Kentucky, 
and a second master of science in computer science education from the 
University of Evansville.
  Dr. Cheatham began his career teaching math and biology at Taylor 
County High School in 1965. He then served as a teaching assistant at 
Tennessee Tech and the University of Kentucky and as an assistant 
professor at Campbell College in North Carolina before landing at 
Campbellsville University in August of 1973. Ever since then, save for 
a single year of leave during which he taught at Western Kentucky 
University, Dr. Cheatham has taught math and computer science at 
Campbellsville. In 1999, he was offered and accepted the position of 
senior vice president for academic affairs. The university's president, 
Dr. Michael V. Carter, recalls that it was ``the very first decision I 
made after becoming president.''
  Dr. Cheatham's excellence as an educator needs no validation aside 
from the many successes and accomplishments of his students. 
Nevertheless, he has been honored for his service at Campbellsville 
University time and time again. He has twice been named Campbellsville/
Taylor County Chamber of Commerce Educator of the Year, in 1992 and 
2000. He was awarded the Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence 
and Campus Leadership Award in 1989 and the Campbellsville University 
Student Government Association Challenger Award a year later. In 1996, 
he received the Board of Advisors Academic Excellence Distinguished 
Professor award, and in 2002, he became a Campbellsville University 
Distinguished Alumnus.
  Despite his tireless devotion to teaching, Dr. Cheatham has also 
found time to pursue his passions outside the classroom. Among his many 
extra-curricular pursuits, he led the discussion on bringing the 
internet to Campbellsville University in 1994, and served as president 
for the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges. He also served as 
the national president of Sigma Zeta, the science and math honor 
society, and is on the board of directors at Taylor Regional Hospital.
  Those who have crossed paths with Dr. Cheatham--whether as one of his 
students, as a colleague, as a fellow member of Frank's Campbellsville 
Baptist Church, or as a friend--know just how much he will be missed at 
Campbellsville University. His lifelong commitment to education and his 
devotion to bettering the lives of his students deserve the praise of 
this body.
  Thus, I ask my Senate colleagues to join me in commending Dr. 
Cheatham for an exemplary career and wishing him nothing but the best 
as he enjoys retirement with his wife, Shirley, his daughter, Tammy, 
and his grandson--a junior at Campbellsville University--Drew.

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