Dr. Cynthia Anthony, President of Lawson State Community College, says her career and her life have been profoundly influenced by her undergraduate years at Talladega College. Not only did she meet her husband, businessman Dennis Anthony, at Talladega, but she says, “The Talladega experience is like none other. Never in a million years did I know or think that that experience would drive so much of my future and life as I have known it.”
Dr. Anthony is one of 21 Talladega College alumni who have become college presidents. She is the first female to serve as president at Lawson State.
Dr. Anthony recalls the Talladega faculty focused on the whole person and had high expectations for each student. “They expected you would take very seriously your education and how that education would lead you beyond Talladega College; and that you would really pursue excellence while you were there,” she says.
This is a philosophy that Dr. Anthony has taken with her and tried to re-create at every institution she has worked for. She spent many years as Dean of Students at Bessemer State Technical College which later merged with Lawson State Community College. Lawson State, like Talladega is an HBCU.
“I have truly tried to emulate and bring those things that I learned from Talladega, whether it was leadership, whether it was excellence, and integrity, or just striving to be the very best that you can be and to help others around you to become the very best that they can be,” Dr. Anthony says.
She fondly recalls pledging Delta Sigma Theta sorority. “My sorority sisters will forever be a part of who I am,” she says. The sorority sisters still support each other. “Talladega just puts together a group of people that become family. . . It truly is Alpha Lyrae Vega,” Dr. Anthony says.
Dr. Anthony made a conscious choice to attend an HBCU when she entered Talladega in 1980, so is pleased that HBCUs are having a resurgence in attendance. “We are owning the responsibilities that come with students coming back to us,” she says.
She believes that tragedies of recent years such as the deaths of George Floyd and Breona Taylor focused attention on how African Americans are positioned in society today and helped spark an HBCU renewal. She discusses how the schools must take advantage of the attention and acknowledgement they are now receiving. “It is incumbent on HBCUs to build an infrastructure for the future even as we wrap our arms around our culture and meet the needs of our students to become global citizens,” says Dr. Anthony.
As president of a community college with a total enrollment of approximately 6,000-7,000 credit and non-credit students, she must navigate a number of different roles and competencies. Because the college is beholden not only to area students but also to the communities it serves, the college has a traditional college transfer program where students acquire credits for basic courses then transfer to a four-year institution, in addition to technical and work force development programs, GED preparation and adult educational programming.
Lawson State Community College’s health professions focus has paid off. The school’s LPN and RN programs have been in the top five of the state’s programs for many years, often taking the number one position. And because Alabama is a manufacturing state, she has had to learn a lot about supply chain logistics, electronics, robotics, and how to meet the needs of the automated manufacturing industry. “As president, you have to have enough of an understanding to be able to connect those dots, but I always say, surround yourself with people who are smarter than you,” advises Dr. Anthony.
Student engagement at community colleges is also an important piece of the puzzle for community college leaders. Dr. Anthony explains that because you often don’t have students living on campus, and the student body encompasses a range of ages, student engagement looks different than at a traditional four-year college. “You've got to ensure that you are providing those diverse services and programs and scheduling opportunities that meet the needs of your diverse student population. And you've got to remain cognizant of your community, your business and industry partners. And really, strategically align your entire institutional focus around meeting so many different and diverse needs,” she says.
Dr. Anthony did not set out to be a leader in higher education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Talladega and ended up working in special education, specializing in autism and developmental delays. She quickly completed a master’s degree in counseling because it enhanced her work with differently abled students to get into the workforce. She then applied for a job in vocational counseling at Bessemer State Technical College and later became Dean of Students, all the while taking graduate courses at University of Alabama Birmingham that she felt would enhance her on-the-job experience and efficacy. Before she realized it, she was very close to completing all the coursework for a doctorate even though she had never declared that she was seeking a degree.
In 2005, Bessemer State Technical College merged with Lawson State Community College to become a single institution. That was the same year she was awarded the UAB Department of Education’s Outstanding Alumni Award.
Dr. Anthony explains she has essentially worked for the same institution for 33 years. During those years she also has served as interim president of three other colleges in the Alabama Community College System: Drake State Community and Technical College, Shelton State Community College, and Enterprise State Community College.
When asked if she has any advice for young women who would like to enter the field of higher education or leadership, she says that although she did not consciously set out to become a higher education leader, her path may not seem traditional. But she has a surefire formula for young women no matter what they want to do: GRIP. “GRIP for me means God first, Respect, Integrity, and Professionalism,” says Dr. Anthony.
“It's important that you stay grounded by putting God first, then you've got to respect others as you respect yourself. Regardless of disagreements, difficulties whatever, you have to have that level of respect. And then you must have integrity in all things and that's one of the things that was always focused on at Talladega. And then professionalism. You must remain professional, especially as a woman and as an African American. You must carry yourself in a way that will bring dignity and respect to the profession, but also to you as a person, as an individual first and foremost,” she explains. “So that's what I offer as advice: you just grip this thing called leadership and hold on for the ride.”
Few will do so with such grace and integrity as Dr. Cynthia Anthony, Talladega Class of 1984.
