Jonathan Fletcher

Professor Robert Arnold

Honors 1100- HO3 Freshman Seminar

September 18, 2010

An Individual Profile of Professor Robert Arnold

It is November 4, 1972. While the nation is caught up in the election between

Richard Nixon and George McGovern, one small family in Washington, D.C. is

celebrating the birth of a son. Mr. Robert F. Arnold III, was born to missionary parents,

and spent much of his childhood with them as they ministered in different countries

around the world. When he was five years old, his parents moved to Quebec, Canada,

where they began their missionary training by learning the French language. In 1981,

they moved to Abidjan, then the capitol of Cote d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) in Africa.

During one of the family’s furloughs, they bought a house in Charlotte, North Carolina,

which eventually would bring Mr. Arnold to the University of North Carolina at

Charlotte.

After graduating High School, Mr. Arnold returned to the United States with his

family, and began attending Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. In the middle

of his Junior year, he was suspended from the school for missing too many chapel

services. He moved to Charlotte, where he shared an apartment with friends. Mr. Arnold

then went into the work force for seven years, until he decided to finish his schooling at

UNC Charlotte, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in English.

Mr. Arnold had been interested in studying English even from a young age, and

attributes this to his family’s time living in foreign countries around the world. In his
senior year of college, he was unsure about his plans for a future career. After talking

with an academic advisor, he realized his options were limited as an English major:

writing (which he did not really enjoy) or teaching (which he had not really considered

before). After getting his degree, he decided to apply to be a teacher. He applied and was

accepted for a position teaching the English language to elementary students in France

for one year. He then returned to Charlotte, where he became a teacher’s assistant, and

eventually became a part time professor at UNC Charlotte. He took a small break from

teaching, but when a full time position opened up for a lecturer at the University, he took

the opportunity. Although he was never in the Honors Program at UNCC, he started

teaching for UHP after meeting Mrs. Connie Rothwell, the current director of the

program through an academic conference.

Although he is not a musician, or a singer, he has an interest in music, and enjoys

listening to a variety. He aligns himself with the Democratic Party, and has always

exercised his right to vote. He has been a Star Wars fan since A New Hope debuted in

1977, when he was five years old.

Currently, Mr. Arnold lives in Charlotte with his wife, who he married when they

were both only twenty years old, and his two children, one five and one seven. In the

future, Mr. Arnold wants to earn a degree in and practice ‘Tort’ Law. He also hopes to one

day visit Asia and Australia. Mr. Arnold has had a diverse and interesting history, and he

has learned to embrace whatever paths his future may bring.