Dr. Thomas Roy McKinnon

Dr. Thomas Roy McKinnon, known to friends as TMac, was the founding director of the Bessie Boehm Moore Center for Economic Education at the University of Arkansas. Though Tom’s purpose in this world was to teach, he was known for his calm demeanor, rational thinking, love of learning, curiosity and respect for everyone.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in history at Southern Arkansas University, where he met his wife Frances. After serving as a military police officer for the Army, Tom returned to school in Arkansas and while teaching junior high history, he completed his master’s degree in economics. With a wife and three young children, Tom moved to Mississippi and earned his doctorate in economics. That degree led him back to Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas where he became the founding director of the Bessie Moore Center which was dedicated in 1979.

His tenure at the University of Arkansas included leadership roles in teaching, research, curriculum development, and service on his journey to becoming an Emeritus University Professor. He served as Interim Dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business. He organized and co-directed the Center for Teaching Effectiveness in the Walton College to improve teaching and learning in the business disciplines. Tom served as co-director of the Faculty Teaching and Support Center for the University of Arkansas.

Educators, who participated in economic education workshops organized and taught by Tom, know the value of these learning experiences and the impact they had on Arkansas through the multiplier effect – the number of students who learned economics year after year.

The best testament to his understanding of economics was his winning of a washing machine and sports car playing The Price is Right! Tom never shopped and won the car by sheer luck. The video is very entertaining as he used his test-making skills to win with only once chance left.

Tom was picked by Bessie Moore at an early Arkansas workshop to carry her boxes. He commented years later that he carried Bessie’s boxes whenever needed and did whatever else she needed to promote economic education. He followed her standards of treating teachers as professionals while giving them the knowledge and tools needed to teach economics to Arkansas’ future leaders.

Tom taught thousands of future teachers and business students as well as many educators throughout Arkansas and Eastern Europe. All respected his knowledge, professionalism, sense of humor and sincere interest in them. In 2004, Tom McKinnon was given the Bessie B. Moore Service Award by the National Association of Economic Educators.

Tom embraced life and all the experiences it entails. He played on the Dismal Scientists baseball team and championed the annual Walton College Dead Day Float. Tom was an avid hog fan but complimented athletics with the arts including the University of

Arkansas Theater, Walton Arts Center, and symphonies. He ran three marathons; played basketball at HPER regularly; took annual hiking excursions with friends and his son, Alex; hiked to Machu Pichu, the Grand Canyon, and the Camino de Santiago; cruised the South Pacific; taught in Italy three semesters; and taught on a ship for a semester at sea twice – sailing around the world and back accompanied by his wife Frances.

Family traditions included visits to Daphine Island, Palace Bath House in Eureka Springs, Ozark Mountain Folk Center blue grass jam sessions, Cajun food on Christmas Eve, and their annual pilgrimage to El Dorado for the McKinnon family reunion, where the latest version of his books recounting family stories were shared. He completed and published, for his family, his life story, Footprints In The Sand. He even took an art class so he could illustrate one of his books.

His three kids, two grandkids, and six great grandkids share his passion for learning, traveling and experiencing life. He hiked, climbed, floated and jogged around the globe including an ancestral journey to the Isle of Skye, the origin of the McKinnon clan. Tom could never learn or experience enough! For a little boy from Parker’s Chapel in southern Arkansas who began life in a logging town, this was quite an accomplishment. When at home, he was accompanied by his little stray dog, Lucy. A bench in Fayetteville’s Gully Park honors the two of them.

Words most commonly used to describe Thomas Roy McKinnon, or TMac, were gentleman, scholar, explorer and friend. Tom had a strong ethical compass and stood for what he believed was right. It is with great honor that I call him my professional mentor or father. — Dr. Rita Littrel