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Dr. Caudill is also acquainted with adversity and adept at turning
negatives into positives, quite similar to the mission of the New
Opportunity School for Women at Bluefield College. For example,
though he enjoyed academic success in high school, in addition to
working afternoons and weekends at F.W. Woolworth’s department
store, as well as managing several entrepreneurial enterprises
of his own, Dr. Caudill’s guidance counselor discouraged him
from pursuing a college preparatory track, placing him instead in
vocational courses. Not letting that prevent him from pursuing his
dream, Dr. Caudill took geometry and chemistry in place of his
study halls and along with his general business vocational classes.
The result: academic success, knowledge and skill in a variety of
disciplines and the opportunity to attend college.
“This is typical Caudill style,” said Williams. “He sees opportunity
in adversity, and he is unafraid to go the extra mile to turn negative
situations into successes.” Much like the mission of the NOSW.
Dr. Caudill attended Berea College in Kentucky for his
undergraduate degree. He went on to receive a master’s degree
in business administration from Morehead State University in
Kentucky, a master’s degree in marketing from the University of
Memphis in Tennessee, and a doctorate from Virginia Tech. During
his graduate studies he got the opportunity to teach, and while
he always thought he’d be an entrepreneur, creating and growing
businesses, he fell in love with working with students, and has been
a teacher ever since.
He began his teaching career in 1981 as an instructor of marketing.
From 2004 to 2008, he served as a professor of business at
Bluefield College. He also chaired the organizational management
and leadership portion of BC’s adult degree completion program.
In addition, he was faculty advisor for the school’s chapters of
Sigma Beta Delta, Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE, now Enactus),
and Phi Beta Lambda (PBL).
In addition to his commitment to educating students, Dr. Caudill
has dedicated his life to giving, ever since he started tithing on his
income from four businesses he operated as a teenager. In fact,
in 2007 he established the Alfred and Shirley Wampler Caudill
Scholarship Fund at Bluefield College in honor of his parents
and in an effort to support adult education. While neither of his
parents had more than an eighth-grade education, both held
higher education in great esteem and made tremendous personal
and financial sacrifices so that Dr. Caudill could earn a bachelor’s
degree (the first in many generations of his family), two master’s
degrees, and a doctorate.
“Mother’s and Dad’s sacrifices are honored,” said Dr. Caudill.
“It’s totally about them. Every gift I make is given in honor of my
parents, who taught me how to live.”
He has also given gifts to Bluefield College in support of
scholarships, communication students, and football, but most
recently his passion is BC’s New Opportunity School for Women.
His gifts to the NOSW help allow the women who need the
program most to attend for free. His generosity also helps provide
day care for participants with children and allows the women
to reside on campus for the program. In addition, Dr. Caudill is
a member of the New Opportunity School’s Advisory Council
where he provides valuable insight and guidance for NOSW
programming.
“I have been moved to tears by listening to the women speak
about their lives before and after NOSW,” said Dr. Caudill. “The
return on investment is a dramatic improvement in the lives of
NOSW participants. I am so very honored to support such a
wonderful and life-changing program.”
Dr. Caudill said his love for the New Opportunity School for
Women developed not long after his sister graduated from the
program at Berea College. Jane B. Stephenson founded the
NOSW there in 1987 out of an urgent need to help women in
Appalachia become better educated and employed. Designed
to improve the educational, financial and personal circumstances
of low-income, under-educated, middle-aged women in the
Appalachian region, the NOSW expanded to a second site at Lees-
McCrae College in North Carolina in 2005 and then to Bluefield
College in 2013.
Now a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at Gardner-
Webb’s Godbold School of Business, Dr. Caudill says that his
success and his ability to give back is a direct result of not only his
parents, but also God’s guidance. Whether in the classroom or the
community, his desire is to honor God and to make a difference.
“Every success I’ve ever had is by the grace of God,” said Dr.
Caudill. “Even if you only help one person, that’s worth it. You can’t
put any kind of price on changing a life.”
Excerpts provided by Amanda Wood Williams, owner of a
marketing company in Nashville, Tennessee.
Dr. Don Caudill loves to inspire students to be entrepreneurs
and business leaders as a professor from 2004 to 2008 at
Bluefield College and now at Gardner Webb University.