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News: Roane State Scott County campus named in honor of Bill Swain

From left, Roane State President Dr. Chris Whaley, the Swain family (Grant and Whitney Swain with son Rowan, Mike, Marsha, and Tomilee) and Paul Phillips celebrate the renaming of the college’s Scott County campus in honor of Bill Swain. 

Oct. 10, 2016

What’s next?

When a meeting between Bill Swain and Roane State Community College leaders wrapped up, that’s how it always ended. No matter what achievement had been celebrated or what project had been completed, Swain closed with two words: what’s next.

“Without question, Bill Swain was the driving force behind bringing higher education and Roane State Community College to Scott County,” Roane State President Dr. Chris Whaley said. “He challenged us, pushed us and drove us forward."

Swain, a businessman, banking executive and philanthropist, died in June 2015. His commitment to education still thrives in Scott County. Now, the Roane State campus he helped build has been permanently renamed in Swain’s honor as the W.H. Swain Scott County Center for Higher Education.

Swain and his family donated 44 acres for the campus, which opened in 1994, and he raised more than a quarter million dollars to equip the campus’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Library.

Swain also led a half-million-dollar fundraising effort to build and equip the multipurpose science lab, a campaign to expand the student center, efforts to add a manmade lake and an athletic field to the grounds, an initiative to expand the library, and efforts to make bachelor’s degrees available through a partnership with Tennessee Tech. He also supported student scholarship programs.

"He was not in favor of credit,” said Paul Phillips, former executive director of the Roane State Foundation and longtime supporter of the Scott County campus. “He just wanted the job to be done. He wanted education to be paramount. He said, 'If you educate the people, everything else will come.’ He wanted this to be the most beautiful community college campus in the state of Tennessee.”

The campus is one of Roane State’s most scenic. The grounds include a walking trail, lake and well-kept athletic fields.

“He said Roane State is the best thing to ever happen to this county,” said Mike Swain of his father. “It’s not just the grounds. It’s for the people that are walking up and down the halls, the students, for the vision that everybody should have an education.”

Two people who share that vision are Paul and Iva Phillips, who have long supported Roane State’s Scott County campus. The campus student center is now named in their honor.

“Paul and Iva are dear friends,” Mike Swain said. “They are also dear friends of this college, this campus and all the students, and they care about everything that goes on here.”

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