WVU Davis College: Celebrating 150 Years

1961

A Life Well Spent

When Bob Maxwell accepted the position to teach vocational agriculture for a project in Kenya in 1960, he had no idea it would become the first of several trips to East Africa.

WRITTEN BY NIKKY LUNA

FALL 2017 • 150TH ANNIVERSARY

30

“When I married Bob, I thought I was marrying a farmer,” Betty Maxwell said. “We married when I finished school – this was in the 1950s – but farming was not good in the 1950s. Bob had taken over his 200-acre family farm, but it was really hard to make a decent living on 200 acres in Iowa.”

After eight years of farming, Bob Maxwell learned that Earlham College, a liberal arts college in Indiana that he had attended prior to earning his bachelor’s in farm operations from Iowa State University, was initiating a project supported by the United States Agency for International Development. The goal was to establish the very first day-secondary school for African boys in Kenya.

“Bob was intrigued by the project,” Maxwell continued. “He had a vocational agriculture teaching certificate and, though he wasn’t teaching in the classroom, he was involved in an ‘on-the-farm’ training program that was supported by the GI Bill that allowed veterans to receive training from a trained instructor. Bob contacted Earlham College and was immediately hired.”

It was this experience that opened his eyes to the dire need for agricultural education in East Africa.

“The school was up in very primitive bush country in west Kenya at a little place called Chavakali,” Betty Maxwell said. “Chavakali was a little market, which was just a wide spot in the road with a couple of open-front huts with a few things to buy. Every couple of days they would butcher a cow and lay it out on a plank, and that’s where we got our meat.”

Maxwell said she would point to a section of meat, they would “hack some off” for her, wrap it in banana leaves and tie it with twine for her take home and cook in the pressure cooker for several hours, at which point it would be edible.

“Bob could just immediately see the potential,” she continued. “He could see how much difference even a little agricultural education would do for these people.”

Over the next two years, Bob Maxwell worked very hard to help the Kenyans realize that potential. Parents were eager for their sons to get the kind of education that would allow them to become “suit-and-tie-wearing professionals” rather than workers who would just get their hands dirty on a farm.

“The boys came in from miles every day,” Betty Maxwell recalled. “They would ride their bikes or walk, and Bob went home with individual students day after day to talk with their parents. He couldn’t even speak their language, but the sons knew English because they had come up through the primary school system, and some parents would know a few words of English.

“Bob did a real missionary job trying to explain to the parents what agriculture could be. And it wasn’t what was in their front yard.”

He met with successful British farmers in the Kenya highlands who were raising sisal and livestock and convinced them to allow the schoolboys to visit and observe their farms on school holidays. Additionally, he wanted to ensure that agricultural education would have standing in the British education system, as this would help to permanently establish it in Africa. So, he wrote the entire curriculum for agriculture education for secondary school, and, as he hoped would happen, it was approved by the Cambridge Syndicate in Britain.

After two years of teaching and advocating for agriculture in Kenya, it was time for the Maxwells to return home to Iowa. Bob Maxwell reenrolled at Iowa State University, where he earned his master’s in agricultural education. As he was finishing up his degree, he received a call from the International Programs Office at West Virginia University.

“WVU was applying for a USAID project contract that involved agricultural education in secondary schools,” Betty Maxwell said. “The Kenya government had requested Bob by name, hoping he would come back and head it up.”

“Bob could just immediately see the potential. He could see how much difference even a little agricultural education would do.” Betty Maxwell

Unique Gifts, Venturous Journey

Robert “Bob” Maxwell (Oct. 8, 1927- Oct. 14, 1999) was able to readily see the full potential in others while empowering them to see it, too. This, combined with his aptitude for relating to people with such ease, is what made him uniquely qualified for an inspiring career that led him and his wife, Betty, from his home state of Iowa to East Africa and, ultimately, West Virginia. Following is a condensed overview of their journey.

1960 Bob Maxwell accepts a position to teach vocational agriculture in Kenya for a USAID/ Earlham-sponsored project.

Left to right: Maxwell with a group of students in Bungoma; animal science students preparing dairy cattle for the Kenya National Show; student teacher from the Narok Secondary School, one of six schools taking part in the WVU-led project; Bob Maxwell, ca. 1984.

Bob Maxwell agreed to work with WVU on the project. His commitment resulted in WVU being awarded the contract, and by 1964, Bob and his family returned to Kenya, along with six American vocational agriculture teachers and their families. He was charged with implementing the curriculum he had previously developed in six more secondary schools.

“The Kenyan government recognized the value of agricultural training,” Betty Maxwell added. “Africans could have decent farms and not just raise corn by scattering out a few kernels and hoping they caught root.”

In 1968, then-Davis College Dean Robert Dunbar visited Kenya to learn about the programs and witness firsthand the progress being made. Impressed with the success, Dean Dunbar offered Maxwell a permanent position with the University and encouraged him to begin work on a Ph.D. upon his return to the United States. Maxwell enrolled in a doctoral program at Cornell University and by 1970 earned his doctorate in agricultural education.

The Maxwells returned to WVU, just in time for Bob Maxwell to head up a new initiative: the Allegheny Highlands Project. He became the first director, a position he held for five years before returning to East Africa (Tanzania) to help develop university-level agricultural programming. His career continued at WVU as he fulfilled various teaching and administrative roles, including dean and director (1984-93) of the College and Experiment Station.

Although Bob Maxwell passed away in 1999, his legacy of inspired teaching and passion for agricultural education remains.

“I have a great love for the College,” Betty Maxwell said. “It’s significant in just being there and making clear how important agriculture is, not only to West Virginia, but to the nation. After all, it’s agriculture that feeds the world, and agricultural universities train people in the most efficient, cost-effective way to raise that food.”

1962 The Maxwells return to Iowa, and Bob earns a master’s in agricultural education (Iowa State, 1964).

1964 Bob Maxwell accepts a contract position to lead a USAID/ WVU-sponsored agricultural education project in Nairobi, Kenya, and Betty Maxwell accepts the position of co-director of the East African Regional Office for the Friends Service Council and adoption officer for the East African Children’s Society.

1968 The Maxwells return to the United States and Bob Maxwell begins a doctoral program at Cornell University, earning a doctorate in agricultural education (1970).

1970 The Maxwells return to West Virginia. Bob Maxwell is appointed director of the Allegheny Highlands Project.

1975 The Maxwells relocate to Tanzania, East Africa, where Bob Maxwell leads an initiative to develop degree-level agricultural education programming. Betty is appointed the American Secretary for the United States Information Service.

1979 The Maxwells return to Morgantown. Bob Maxwell is appointed as assistant dean and acting chairman of the division of animal and veterinary sciences.

1980s Bob Maxwell is appointed associate dean and chair of the division of international agriculture and forestry (1980). He later becomes dean and director (1984) of the College.

1990s Bob Maxwell becomes professor of agricultural education and director/coordinator of International Agriculture and Forestry at WVU (1993). In 1995, he serves as interim associate provost and director of the WVU Extension Service until his retirement in 1997.

DAVIS.WVU.EDU

31