On Tuesday, the board of trustees of Dillard University selected Walter Kimbrough to be their next president. Kimbrough is the current president of Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark. When he stepped into the leadership role of the small Arkansas college, it was somewhat unstable, with uninspired faculty and staff members. Kimbrough turned the institution around completely by empowering students, faculty, and staff, increasing student success, and attracting more external funding support.
I’ve had the opportunity to visit the Philander Smith campus on several occasions and it is vibrant, energetic, and thriving. Kimbrough has the ability to inspire those around him. He hires excellent people and trusts them to do their jobs. But more than inspiration, Kimbrough is wedded to using data to make decisions. He collects data on everything related to his institution’s performance, is open to sharing it with others, and uses it to make change and move his institution forward.
I have written about Kimbrough or his institution several times. He exemplifies bravery in a college president, penning op-eds on a regular basis and taking stands on controversial educational issues. He also represents a new generation of black-college presidents who are young, highly innovative, data-driven, and daring in their approach to education.
But Kimbrough’s departure from Philander Smith College begs the question: Who will lead the institution next and will its next president be able to sustain the momentum that Kimbrough has set in place at the institution? I hope the new president can do it and believe it’s possible because Kimbrough has left a substantial blueprint in place. Philander Smith College, with its ‘Think Justice’ focus is a special college and needs a special leader.
The larger question is where will the future black-college presidents come from? And what kind of background do they need? Are they being groomed? There are those who believe that black-college presidents should be reared within the black-college environment. Interestingly, some of the newest black-college presidents did not go to black colleges and/or have not work extensively or at all in the black-college environment. Of course, there are many black-college presidents who are wonderfully successful and have achieved this success in part because of their experiences at black colleges. But, perhaps, we need to be more open-minded in our understanding of what makes a successful black-college president. There are some terrific leadership prospects on the horizon.
At lease once a month, a young African American tells me that he or she wants to lead a black college. These individuals are excited, committed, and eager to lead. In order to ensure the success of black colleges, we all need to groom these young people—regardless of the type of institution at which they were educated. Black colleges have the potential to have many, many Walter Kimbroughs leading them into the 21st Century.
