Former E&H Pastor Chosen As Interim President at Hiwassee College

Hiwassee College Trustee Carol Wilson (right) welcomes new Interim President Dr. Charles T. Neal.

Dr. Charles Neal, a former pastor of the campus church at Emory & Henry College and a past member of the College’s Board of Trustees, has been chosen to serve as interim president of Hiwassee College in Madisonville, Tenn.

Dr. Neal takes the helm from Dr. Jerry Russell who served as interim from March 2010 until the end of the year, while simultaneously serving as pastor of Fairview United Methodist Church in Maryville. 

Dr. Neal comes to Hiwassee after retiring as senior pastor of First-Centenary United Methodist Church in Chattanooga.  Dr. Neal received his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee and his master of divinity degree from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.  He holds an honorary doctorate from Tennessee Wesleyan College.  He has served on the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and on the Executive Committee of the Board for Chattanooga Goodwill Industries.

Dr. Neal and his wife, Brenda, who teaches Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, are the parents of three grown children and six grandchildren.

"I am honored to have been asked to serve as interim president for Hiwassee College," Dr. Neal said. "I am deeply appreciative of the college's heritage and excited about its future. Some of my happiest days in ministry were while serving the campus church at Emory & Henry.  Thus, I begin the opportunity before me with much anticipation, convinced that church related colleges like Hiwassee and Emory & Henry are making a critical contribution to higher education in America."