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Dr. Joe Howell, pictured from around the time when he became president in 1977.
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Howell as he appeared during a visit to the CMU campus in 2007.
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By James H. Steele
Editor & PublisherFormer Central Methodist University President Joe A. Howell, who served 18 years as the school’s top executive spanning the years 1977 to 1995, died Wednesday. He had become seriously ill over the weekend at his home in Franklin, Tenn., just outside Nashville.
Dr. Howell was 78 and had been in ill health in recent years, including suffering most recently from Alzheimer's disease.
He served Central Methodist during a time of economic uncertainty and change and, over the years, made it a point to emphasize the values and guiding principles behind the mission of the institution.
It was during his tenure that Central began efforts to serve students on satellite campuses outside Fayette in concert with two-year community colleges. Since that time the off-campus program has grown to include even more students than attend the traditional campus setting in Fayette.
This initiative, including the partnership with Mineral Area College in Park Hills, has led the state’s Department of Higher Education to call Central the “pioneer” in public-private partnerships in higher education. Observers note that the establishment of this off-campus site some three hours from Fayette may well have been the most strategic legacy that Howell left the institution he served for nearly two decades.
After retiring in 1995, Howell worked for several years in the United Arab Emirates as a member of the founding administration of Zayed University, a national school which serves women in that country.
A native of Cape Girardeau, Howell received degrees from Southeast Missouri State University and from Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt University. He began his teaching and coaching career at Herculaneum, and later served in various university faculty and administrative positions in Virginia, Florida and Texas before coming to Central in 1977.
Howell was the author of six books, numerous published articles, and had been a state and national leader for several educational organizations and fraternities.
While living in Fayette, Howell and his wife were active in various groups including Linn Memorial United Methodist Church, Fayette Rotary, the Round Table Club, and others.
He is survived by his wife, Pansy (Pan), a son, a daughter and several grandchildren. A private family memorial service will be held at a later date.