Michael A. Carter ’72, ’78 didn’t stand a chance.
He was one of seven children born to a father with a sixth-grade education and a mother who ended her education with high school. His father was a janitor and his mother didn’t work outside the home, so money was always tight. The family lived in rented homes and housing projects.
The daunting prospect of paying tuition bills was just one hurdle keeping him from dreaming about college. The other? He did not do very well in high school.
“I lost a sister to leukemia at 15 and I was in a haze for two years,” he said. “When I came out of that haze my senior year I had a lot of catching up to do. I remember my guidance counselor my senior year said to me, ‘I see three options for you: Ford, GM or Chrysler.’” But Carter’s goals didn’t include working on the assembly line.
That’s when the first of several of what he calls guardian angels appeared. His uncle and aunt, who were childless, took in the young Carter.
“Growing up I only wanted two things,” Carter said. “I dreamed of my own bedroom—I had slept on couches my whole life, and I hoped that one day I’d have my own bedroom. I also wanted my own stereo system.” When he moved in with his aunt and uncle at age 16, both of those dreams came true. But his aunt and uncle helped him dream bigger.
“My uncle was in education and he pushed me to think about college,” Carter said. “He got me to take the SAT and the ACT and, by the grace of God, he got me into UDM.”
That was in 1968, and Carter was in the first class of Project 100, a program designed to admit and support inner-city public and parochial high school graduates with high academic potential to the University.
This is where he met another guardian angel.
Dolores A. Davis-Penn was a counselor for Project 100 and took her job very seriously.
“She knew I had my classes and work and that I would get home around 10 o’clock every night,” he said. “And every night at 10:30, she’d call and I’d pick it up and she’d say ‘How was your day?’”
So every night for 15 minutes, the two would talk about his classes, his work, anything he wanted to say. She told him to keep his eye on his goal of a degree, and that she was there to help him. She had no idea how much these phone calls meant to him.
“I was one of four counselors for the 100 students in that first class,” said Davis-Penn. “We all helped recruit and I felt it was a mission of the heart. I was determined to see as many of those students as possible succeed.”
“I was not academically prepared for college,” Carter said. “But I got laser-like in wanting to make sure I got my studies done. I ate, slept and lived in the library. And every night she called to make sure I was OK.”
“There were a few students I had a special rapport with, and Michael was one of them,” Davis-Penn said. “The beautiful thing is that I could watch them grow right before my eyes. I could see the results of my work day by day.”
As he worked toward his political science degree, he also held down a series of jobs and saved up some money and became a guardian angel of sorts to his parents: As a sophomore, he had saved up enough money to help his parents purchase their first home.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science, he worked as a teacher, swimming coach and purchasing agent. He returned to UDM to earn his MBA, founded a janitorial company, and later worked as a sales rep and in the healthcare industry. In 2002, he founded Athena Health Club and Day Spa in Nashville, Tenn., and became managing partner at Pinnacle Construction Partners, LLC, a Tennessee-based construction firm that does business in several states.
Carter and his wife, Pamela L. Carter ’71, who he met at UDM, have dedicated themselves to carrying the torch lit by his guardian angels. They have created a charitable foundation and fund scholarships at UDM, the University of Michigan, where their children earned their degrees, and in Tennessee where they live. They also support other students privately.
“Our priority has always been education,” he said. “And all kids need that helping hand.”
Carter kept in touch with Davis-Penn for years but, as time passed, the two lost touch. Davis later earned a doctorate in education with a specialty in gerontology and ran the National Center on Black Aged in Washington, D.C.
Carter and his wife recently donated $250,000 to create a scholarship for students who graduate from Detroit’s Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, which Carter helped found.
It’s called the Dr. Dolores A. Davis-Penn Scholarship.
“When I got the call, that a scholarship was being named after me, I was stunned,” Davis-Penn, who lives in Florida now, said. “I am so honored and so humbled.”
“What’s most significant to me is that what Dr. Davis-Penn did in terms of support speaks to her sincerity and integrity,” Carter said. “When someone goes above and beyond the way she did—and she didn’t have to do that—it tells something about that person.”
Davis-Penn said the work she did with Project 100, was something special. “Of all my positions I’ve had in my career, the work I did with Project 100 was the most rewarding of my entire life,” she said.
In April, at the Spirit of UDM: Alumni Achievement Awards ceremony, Carter will be honored for his distinguished career in business and philanthropy. Davis-Penn will be there to share his honor.
