MTSU Media and Entertainment student Charles “Chuck” E. Norwood died in his sleep on Saturday, Jan. 9, according to his family’s pastor. He was 22.
Norwood, from Cleveland, Tennessee, started at MTSU as a freshman in August 2012 on a President’s scholarship. The MTSU flag flew at half-staff today in memory of Norwood.
At MTSU, Norwood worked as a resident assistant for housing since August 2013 and contributed to the Seigenthaler News Service, a journalism program that parters MTSU students with local and state publications.
“Chuck will be missed,” said Pat Embry, director of the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies. “As a contributor to the MTSU Seigenthaler News Service, he showed up for writing and video assignments eager and ready for anything.”
In 2014, Norwood covered the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in cooperation with The Tennessean, where he interviewed the lead singer of alt-rock band Cake. The same year, Chuck contributed to the publication’s coverage of the 15th annual Americana Music Festival and CMA Awards Week, as well as the Murfreesboro Pulse, an alternative monthly publication.
“Chuck had an infectious personality and an admirable work ethic,” Embry said. “He worked as a journalist at Bonnaroo while also delivering ice as part of the festival’s crew. And he once covered a nighttime concert in Nashville for the Americana festival, then hustled back to campus to start his job in the dormitory at midnight.”
According to his obituary, Norwood’s funeral service will be held at Broad Street United Methodist Church on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 2 p.m.
To contact Editor-in-Chief Dylan Skye Aycock, email editor@mtsusidelines.com.
