Inducted
1990
Degrees
- B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, 1929
- M.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, 1930
- Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1932
Charles Jackson Potter was born in Greenfield, Missouri, in 1908. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1929 and 1930, respectively. In 1932 he received the first chemical engineering doctorate granted by West Virginia University. He received an Honorary Doctor of Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Potter joined Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company in 1938 and retired in 1988 after being president, director and then chairman. He has been a leader of research and development in the coal industry.
During World War II he was deputy solid fuels administrator and Coal Mines Administrator under the Secretary of Interior. He headed a task force sent to Europe at the end of the war to insure prompt rehabilitation of Western Europe’s coal mines.
He was made honorary commander, Most Excellent Order British Empire by the Queen. He received the Medal for Merit from President Truman, the Erskine Ramsay Medal from AIME and the Howard N. Evenson Award from the Society of Mining Engineers.
Potter is currently a trustee of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and governor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.