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Ron Stallworth, 鈥�03, Overcomes Struggles to Help Others

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Posted on June 23, 2017

Marketing and Communications

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Ron Stallworth, 鈥�03, is an engineer, not a farmer, but he hopes to plant the seeds of change each time he helps a person in need. 鈥淭here are few things that make us feel more inspired than helping someone,鈥� he said. 

It wasn鈥檛 so long ago that Ron Stallworth needed help from others. He grew up so poor in the Mobile Terrace neighborhood that his house didn鈥檛 have running water. After his father鈥檚 death, he lived in the safety of his car to finish Murphy High School. It took him 13 years to graduate from USA with his bachelor鈥檚 degree, working 70 to 80 hours a week on night shifts at Honeywell UOP in Chickasaw, sleeping an hour or so in the engineering parking lot, then racing to class.

鈥淚t was really a struggle,鈥� said Stallworth. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 going to be a 4.0 student. I can鈥檛 tell you how many times I quit, how many times I got discouraged.鈥� 

But while he was a student, he was already becoming a giver. Stallworth looked to his engineering classmates to see who was helping others. Then, he worked with the department chair to create an anonymous Congeniality Award that 鈥渃ascaded鈥� into the Ron Stallworth Chemical Engineering Scholarship. 鈥淚t鈥檚 rewarding for me to give in that way,鈥� he said. 

In establishing the scholarship, Stallworth wanted to keep that image of a struggling student in mind. Without lowering the standards, he wanted to be aware of students in difficult circumstances and financial need. Stallworth hopes to grow ambition in the recipients, and to help remove barriers for them. 

When Stallworth graduated in 2003, he took a full-time job at Honeywell. Over the years, he鈥檚 lived in more than 63 countries and earned his MBA in Singapore. 

Today, Stallworth is marking his 30th anniversary with Honeywell, and lives northwest of Chicago in Lake in the Hills, Ill., with his wife, Karan, and their 13-year-old son, Jonathan. Ron and Karan met at Hillsdale Middle School and reconnected a few years ago, marrying in December 2015.

鈥淭hank God for blessing me with the heart of a giver,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y dad was a Good Samaritan, even though we were one of the poorest families in Mobile Terrace.鈥� 

In his former Mobile neighborhood, Stallworth donated several empty lots to Habitat for Humanity of Southwest Alabama, where he sits on the board. His mother lives in the first house Habitat built there. Stallworth plans to donate more lots in the future to allow others in the neighborhood to own a new home. 

At USA, Stallworth sits on the National Alumni Board and mentors engineering students. He recently met with Tau Beta Pi, an academic engineering fraternity. He spoke on how to present themselves, as well as framing their r茅sum茅s to showcase talents and accomplishments. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to clearly articulate what value you鈥檙e bringing to an employer,鈥� he explained.

Stallworth is also penning a book that he hopes to release next year, charting his challenges, blessings and the people who helped him along the way. 鈥淩arely do we achieve anything of significant success without the help of others,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 rarely about us. It鈥檚 about other people helping us out and God putting others in our path.鈥�

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