Email: robbie.pittman@gmail.com
Phone: 828-293-5337
Address: 38 Wildwood Drive, Sylva, NC  28779         
   
Date of Appointment: 1975

Education:

• Ph.D., University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, 1975.
• M.A., University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, 1974.
• A.B., University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, 1969.

Taught:

• Courses in research methods, statistics, and measurement.

Research Interests:

• Educational issues associated with rural/small schools and in the factors contributing to students dropping out of high school.

Personal Statement:

I was raised on a farm between the communities of Stantonsburg and Saratoga in the eastern part of North Carolina. The first college class I attended had more students in it than the entire high school from which I graduated.

My rural background and personal experiences in small, rural schools prompted my research interests in this area and personal endorsement of small schools.

My interests in high school dropouts stemmed from a committee assignment involving students withdrawing from college. The dynamics underlying those dropout decisions interested me and became a professional focus.

I assist school systems in the region with project evaluations and test score analysis.

Beginning fall term 2004, I will enter the “phased” retirement program at Western. This means that I teach a reduced load, assume the mantle of the wise old sage, and am allowed to say such things as “I remember back in ………….”

Pam, my wife, and I have two grown sons.