{"id":51782,"date":"2023-07-24T07:47:38","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T11:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=51782"},"modified":"2023-08-11T08:01:33","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T12:01:33","slug":"retired-utc-criminal-justice-professor-still-steering-others-down-lifes-highways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/07\/retired-utc-criminal-justice-professor-still-steering-others-down-lifes-highways\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired UTC criminal justice professor still steering others down life\u2019s highways"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UTC

UTC physical therapy students learned about adaptive driving from Dr. Roger Thompson during an April training session. Photo by Angela Foster.<\/p><\/div>\n

Tired of cracking up test cars for General Motors, Dr. Roger Thompson earned his education doctorate from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and spent 36 years as a full-time criminal justice professor at UTC. Before retiring, however, he began working with Haman\u2019s New Drivers to teach student drivers and rehabilitate others behind the wheel\u2014and now works with teenagers, those with special needs and immigrants whose home countries require driving on the left side of the road.<\/p>\n

As a driving instructor and evaluator, Thompson is a state-certified third-party tester whose word alone puts drivers behind the wheel with the legally required 2-inch-by-3.5-inch piece of laminated plastic.<\/p>\n

As a GM test driver, Thompson crashed or was forced to crash multiple cars a day because they were not yet streetworthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople thought I had it made in the shade, that I got to drive fast,\u201d the 73-year-old Pittsburgh native said. \u201cWhat they don\u2019t tell you is not everybody has quality concerns, so at times the vehicle would be missing brakes. Or they\u2019d fail to bolt down the carburetor. I averaged about eight crashes every shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes he took the vehicle out of service by purposely crashing it so it wouldn\u2019t be loaded onto a tractor-trailer and delivered to a dealership for sale to an unsuspecting buyer. \u201cProfits probably suffered,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

He was never hurt, \u201cbut I was conscious that I was living on borrowed time.\u201d He took his Youngstown State University undergraduate and master\u2019s degrees\u2014a hodgepodge of forensics, law and policing\u2014and went to work for the Ohio state attorney general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a period of time [as a GM test driver], I concluded I would not live to see 25 and, at some point, I\u2019m going to get hurt. So in the process of going back to school, in this case for the master\u2019s, I took a chemistry course and DNA was part of the study, and that was the hook that moved me into this field [forensics and crime] basically for the remainder of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Roger Thompson<\/p><\/div>\n

He still teaches adjunct UTC classes in criminal justice since retiring in 2014 following 36 years as a full-time professor. He became a Haman\u2019s driving instructor in 2000 and augmented that role with the knowledge he gained by serving three years on the city of Chattanooga\u2019s Office of Multicultural Affairs Advisory Board and chairing a city crime task force. Both appointments brought him proximity to juvenile delinquents and immigrants, as did his work consulting with police officers.<\/p>\n

Haman\u2019s made Thompson the go-to instructor for the challenging clients, whose families pay $400 to $500 for a package that includes 30 hours of classroom instruction and three to four two-hour driving lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m comfortable in a conflict environment,\u201d he said, noting that he wanted a work environment where every day would be stimulating and different. \u201cThis is true now given a teenage population wanting to obtain wings of independence; patients recovering from strokes, brain injuries, amputations, etcetera; and immigrants from around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeenagers yearn for my approval for upgrades in driving privileges,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cI work with Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation. This enables me to work with the medical community, and I work with immigrants from around the world, so I deal with language and cultural differences to be sure. I deal with special needs\u2014visual deficits and hearing deficits. I offer adaptive equipment to meet their driving needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each workday is different. He has been a driving instructor to recuperating NASA engineers who have helped send rockets into orbit, CEOs from large conglomerates and moonshiners with riveting tales. On a recent Saturday, he worked with a deaf driver through rudimentary sign language. The next day, he taught a teenage driver who required hand controls. He often intersperses his lessons with talks about students\u2019 academic and career aspirations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn short, it is immediate gratification that I am making a difference in their life,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For all his successes\u2014he has taught the children of former students\u2014there have been bizarre and scary situations, like the driver who at a red stoplight calmly said voices in his head were telling him to use the vehicle as a missile, or the driver who was paranoid that every other driver hated him and was gunning for them. Or the driver with narcolepsy or the medicated one with the nine-second reaction time. Mostly, the problem students are teenage know-it-alls, one of whom already has wrecked three of his family\u2019s vehicles and is only 16, Thompson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an excellent driving instructor,\u201d Haman\u2019s CEO Raymond Scott said. \u201cHis focus on attention to students and the handicapped community, especially, has been a boon for us and the community. It\u2019s his level of teaching, awareness, attention to detail and just a real desire to learn more about the different conditions and situations that students face, everything from ADHD up to students with cerebral palsy and different issues like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Thompson feels he, the driver or Haman\u2019s 2015 Kia Soul is in danger, he uses his own brake and grabs the driver\u2019s steering wheel for the ride back to Haman\u2019s Northgate Mall location.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to add positive energy into my life and balance the negativity surrounding my work with criminality, injury and death,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, I like my academic world, but you are primarily spending time and attention on the negative and ugly side of humanity. To counterbalance my sanity, I wanted something that would be positive in nature and allow me to experience the better side of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tired of cracking up test cars for General Motors, Dr. Roger Thompson spent 36 years as a full-time criminal justice professor at UTC. Before retiring, however, he began working with Haman\u2019s New Drivers to teach student drivers and rehabilitate others behind the wheel\u2014and now works with teenagers, those with special needs and immigrants whose home countries require driving on the left side of the road.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1493,"featured_media":51788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50311,70,61,56,3,122419,7712,12760,72949],"tags":[7332,122915,122916,99302,123081],"class_list":{"0":"post-51782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-college-of-arts-sciences","9":"category-college-of-health-education-and-professional-studies","10":"category-community","11":"category-criminal-justice-college-of-arts-sciences","12":"category-criminal-justice","13":"category-faculty-and-staff","14":"category-physical-therapy","15":"category-social-cultural-and-justice-studies","16":"tag-dr-roger-thompson","17":"tag-hamans-new-drivers","18":"tag-office-of-multicultural-affairs-advisory-board","19":"tag-siskin-hospital-for-physical-rehabilitation","20":"tag-todd-foster","21":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nRetired UTC criminal justice professor still steering others down life\u2019s highways | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tired of cracking up test cars for General Motors, Dr. Roger Thompson spent 36 years as a full-time criminal justice professor at UTC. 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