Longtime educator Annell Fields is shown inside the biology lab of Roane State's Cumberland County campus.
May 31, 2017
By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer
CROSSVILLE, Tenn. – Having taught in both venues, Roane State’s Annell Fields appreciates the differences between high school and college.
Roane State students “choose to be here, choose their classes, and pay for them,” said Fields, an adjunct faculty member at the Cumberland County campus of Roane State Community College.
“Their interest level is higher,” she said of college students. “You’re working with adults, and you have a higher level of expectations.”
The 30,000-square-foot campus is on Cook Road and opened in the fall of 1998. About 600 students attend classes there each semester, making it the third-largest of Roane State’s network of nine campuses.
Fields teaches Biology I and Biology II. Her goal, she said: “To get my students excited about the living world.”
Fields came to Roane State after retiring from public education, including 20 years at Cumberland County High and eight years at the county’s new Stone Memorial High School.
She taught environmental science, ecology and biology in high school while also teaching biology classes at night at Roane State. While at the high schools, Fields helped launch recycling programs that are still in effect.
At Roane State, “I try to be an ambassador for the school,” she said. She helps students obtain their required community service hours to comply with Tennessee Promise grant guidelines.
Among those services projects were trash cleanups in and along the shorelines of two local lakes. She also helped build and maintain nature trails near Roane State’s Crossville campus. “I’m kind of like the nature person for the school,” she said.
A self-described lifetime learner, she obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
“I love teaching science,” she said.
To learn more about academic programs at the Cumberland County campus, call (931) 456-9880.
Roane State Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity or national origin, sex, disability, age, status as protected veteran or any other class protected by Federal or State laws and regulation and by Tennessee board of Regents policies with respect to employment, programs, and activities. View full non-discrimination policy.
