The Pacer

Issue date: 9/11/07 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Paula Comerlato

When UT Martin's new chancellor Dr. Tom Rakes was a college student, things were different.

And he wasn't afraid to flip burgers.

"When I went to college, the freshmen had to wear little beanies. Women had to be in their dorms by 10 (p.m.) and you were only allowed to visit them in the visiting area," Rakes said in an interview with The Pacer. "Remember, too, this was a time when you had typewriters, no copy machines."
Rakes worked at his college's student union, usually making hamburgers.

Rakes, who went on to earn a master's degree in reading and a doctorate in education, began his academic career at Milligan College, a small Christian liberal arts college near Elizabethton in Northeast Tennessee.

"I was fortunate that I ended up at a school that was academically strong," Rakes said. "And (being at a small school) you get visibility you wouldn't have gotten elsewhere."

UTM's chancellor went to the school to play basketball. He was a forward guard.

There were no fraternities or sororities at Milligan, but Rakes said he would not have had time for them anyway. The days at Milligan were very structured, and there was always studying to do. Outside of school work, Rakes spent the rest of his time with fellow athletes and Psi Chi, a national honor society for psychology.

The dorms at Milligan were similar to the traditional ones at UTM, with rooms sharing a bathroom.

"I didn't mind living in the dorms," Rakes said. "I still remember my roommate. He's from North Carolina and I still see him now and then."

Rakes was a college student during the controversial Vietnam War and recalls how it divided the country, even from insular Elizabethton.

"I wasn't involved in the protests, it just split the country apart. There weren't really any protests at our school either. The interest was there, but at a church-related school you discuss it more. ... We weren't discouraged from doing it but the folks there didn't really have any interest in marching about it."

For music, Rakes listened to "stuff from the late 60s and 70s" like The Beatles and some Mo-Town groups.

"I still listen to it on my iPod in the car and at home," he said. "Of course, in those days it was 8-tracks, cassettes and 45s."

The hamburger flipper turned academic head honcho's hobbies include playing guitar, taking digital photographs and reading. His favorite books are mostly biographies on historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Colin Powell.

Rakes said he's excited about his new job as chancellor, which he formally started this summer. He sees international experience - from a small university amid open fields - as one of the largest areas of growth.

"Maybe around 11 or 12 percent of students have an international experience. ... That's something I want to change. We want to move that as high as 25 percent in the next five years," he said.

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