By Emma L. Carew

As he grew up on the Fond du Lac Indian reservation, 20 miles from Duluth, Minn., Larry G. Anderson never dreamed he would become president of a college one day.

In high school, when his ACT scores came back higher than expected, Mr. Anderson hoped to go to college. His guidance counselor suggested he join the Army instead.

Not until he was 35, after two faltering college attempts, did he embark on the path toward his degrees: a bachelor of science and a master's in education, with an emphasis on counseling, both from the University of Wisconsin at Superior.

Now Mr. Anderson, 58, leads Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, the only combined tribal college and state community college in the United States. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees appointed him as president in September, after 14 months as interim president.

Forgoing a national search is "highly unusual," says Chancellor James H. McCormick, of the state-college system. But after he and the search committee spoke with faculty and staff members, as well as with students and tribal leaders, "it was clear to me that we had the right person," Mr. McCormick says.

Working at the college, Mr. Anderson says, is "like coming home for me."

He, like many of his students, is an enrolled member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, grew up poor, and was the first from his family to attend college. Mr. Anderson's father taught him the importance of working hard every day, but "he didn't really know about what it took to go to college."

"It took me a little longer to figure things out on my own and start believing in myself," Mr. Anderson says.

He finally enrolled at Superior after he was laid off from his job as a railroad welder and carpenter. Two mentors—the director of the extended-degree program and a physiology instructor—took him in. Mr. Anderson says they helped him learn the time-management and study skills he needed to persist.

He served on the school board in Minnesota's St. Louis County for 14 years, including three as its chair, and worked as a public-school counselor and administrator.

For three years, he directed Upward Bound and student-support services at the College of St. Scholastica, in Duluth.

In 1995 he joined Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, which was just eight years old. Since then he has held a number of positions there; the most recent was vice president for administration and student services.

For 14 years, until last fall, he also coached his high-school football team.

"What I've learned from the chaos that came with my life was that you need to plan," he says.

And it takes good planning to make the unusual partnership between the state and the northeastern Minnesota band work. The institution's strength is founded in that relationship, he says.

"That's something that shouldn't be forgotten in this experiment," he says. "Throughout history, tribes and states have not fared well together."

Mr. Anderson says he hopes visiting tribal leaders will see the college as a welcoming campus, one that helps students, especially American Indians, succeed.

One of the new president's key assets, Mr. McCormick says, is his connection to the local Chippewa band, along with his shared history with the college's founding president, Jack Briggs, who died in 2001.

Mr. Briggs "did a great job of energizing the place," Mr. McCormick says. "Some of the ideas that were started in the early days will be advanced under Larry's leadership."

About a quarter of the college's 2,777 students are American Indian, and 64 hail from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the highest number ever, according to Mr. Anderson.

The college is working closely with the Chippewa and the local high school to focus on retention, he says, helping students earn law-enforcement, nursing, or other degrees so they can get jobs or transfer to four-year colleges.

"The success rate among Native students is not spectacular in any way," Mr. Anderson acknowledges, "and we need to do a better job."

The area largely relies on tourism, forestry, and mining, he says, and the college tries to design programs "to provide people power."

He believes it is important for the tribe to be able to hire its own members back into its work force and hopes the college will be the vehicle "to keep our talented people in this area."