Dr. Carden still enthusiastic about history

by Leah Harbin, staff writer

When most people think of history, they think of names, dates and places to memorize.

When Dr. Ron Carden thinks of history, he thinks of the motivations behind the events.

In 1969, Dr. Carden came to South Plains College to teach history. He is still going strong 38 years later. Before coming to SPC, Dr. Carden was a teaching assistant at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M.

His desire to be a teacher came from the idea of doing his country a service. While many young men were going off to join the Armed Forces, Dr. Carden wanted to perform another service. He wanted to educate his fellow countrymen. Most influential in the formulation of this thought was a book by Jonathan Kozel.

In 1968, Dr. Carden applied for a teaching position at SPC. The next summer, Joe Balch, the chairperson of the Social Sciences Department called him and offered him the job. He taught his first class on Aug. 5, 1969. At this point, Dr. Carden had his master’s degree in history and was pursuing his doctorate in an “All But Dissertation” program.

“I intended to finish my doctorate much sooner, but it took me quite a bit of time to complete my work for classes here,” says Dr. Carden, professor of history and chairperson of the Social Sciences Department.

He said that he really enjoys the atmosphere at SPC.

“I enjoy the interaction with the students, and the family-like atmosphere,” says Dr. Carden. “There’s very little disagreement between colleagues.”

He says that he also enjoys the diversity of a community college such as SPC.

“You see a much more diverse group of people at a community college than you do at a university,” says Dr. Carden.

Dr. Carden chose history as a teaching field because it is a life-long passion.

“It’s something I’ve always enjoyed since I was a child,” says Dr. Carden. “When I got to the collegiate level, I had really good teachers. It was just a good subject.”

One of the most important things for students to understand about history is that there are many different views of the past.

“You have to take into account the author’s motivation and personal biases,” says Dr. Carden.

In addition to history, Dr. Carden enjoys reading. He also likes to write and do research. Dr. Carden is a resident of Levelland, where he has lived since he first got the job at SPC. He grew up in Littlefield, Texas, 24 miles north of Levelland. Country music singer  Waylon Jennings is also from Littlefield.

“People always ask me if I knew him, but he was older than me,” says Dr. Carden. “My mother knew his mother, but I didn’t go to school with him or know him.”

Dr. Carden met his late wife, Cindy, in Levelland.

“We were married for 34 years, 34 years, 8 months, 19 days, 23 hours, and 45 minutes as I recall it,” Dr. Carden says.

Sadly, his wife passed away last year after a battle with ovarian cancer. Dr. Carden has one daughter who is a sophomore at SPC.

Dr. Carden said he has no plans to leave SPC anytime soon. He says, “A teacher who is enthusiastic about his subject is about as good as you can get.”

Photo by Leah Harbin/Plainsman Press