Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

New provost relishes local ties

By NICOLE JOHNSON
Published December 20, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford] Tonjua Williams, 43, prides herself on the local ties she's built, including three years as president of the Lakewood Junior Spartans Mighty Mites youth football team.

TARPON SPRINGS - Days into her new role as the provost for St. Petersburg College's Tarpon Springs campus, Tonjua Williams is exuberant yet pensive.

Williams, 43, is fielding calls, arranging lunches with local officials - and coming to terms with the historic significance of her new position. She's not only the first African-American in the provost's job, but also the first woman.

"I'm more interested in being the best person at the job - period," said Williams, recently named to replace Bob Ramsay.

Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Williams and her husband, Derrick, live in St. Petersburg and attend Southside Tabernacle Baptist Church. She prides herself on the local ties she's built over the years, including her three years as president of the championship Lakewood Junior Spartans Mighty Mites youth football team.

Those connections have kept her loyal to St. Petersburg College as well. In almost two decades, Williams has worked for the college as a recruiter, academic adviser and program coordinator.

In her new role as provost, Williams is responsible for the future direction of the Tarpon Springs campus, including budget planning, supervising services offered to the more than 26,000 students who take classes offered through the campus, and building the college's role in the community.

She spoke this week about her goals and the values she brings to the job:

Are you sleeping much these days?

Can't say that I sleep much, just thinking. I'm excited.

Tell me about your background, where did you grow up?

I am a native Floridian. I grew up in south St. Petersburg, pretty much in the area off 34th Street. I went to Tyrone Middle School and Boca Ciega High School - the best school in the district. Go Pirates! I went to college at Clearwater Christian College and earned two bachelor's degrees from there in business administration and humanities. Then I got a master's degree from University of South Florida in counselor education.

What is it about this area that has managed to keep you here?

Family. It's a hometown. It's not overindustrialized, and my family is here, so I'm here. I have a small family. One brother, one sister, and we were raised by a single mom.

Tell me about the atmosphere growing up. What were your family's values?

Growing up, my mom came from another single-parent home, so she was determined that we wouldn't grow up the way she grew up. She was always determined that her children would go to college. She never said, "If you go to college. ..." She said "When you go to college. ..."

So we grew up thinking this is what we are expected to do. Through my whole high school years, we had no TV and no radio. So we had to get to know each other. We would come home and do our homework and then all four of just talked and laughed at night.

It was a real strange thing, but (my mom) really wanted us to build a stronger bond. We talked. We played games. She always had a Bible study ready for us. We discussed problems. It helped us improve communication skills.

Sounds like quite the challenge.

We survived together as a family, and that was key. We all felt a sense of helping each other get through it. It's the struggles that help you grow.

You worked as an associate provost of the Health Education Center for six years. How did that job prepare you for this new position?

It gave me the opportunity to work with students and impact them on a different level.

When students have problems, they're able to come to the associate provost to help resolve them. People are struggling in more than just academic issues. Our students are people before they become students. And education is going to really have to look at that. I think the college is really addressing that kind of stuff, to work with individuals by putting a lot of scholarships and programs in place. For example, we're starting a male center for the men to come and get any support that they need.

A men's center? That's unexpected.

You know, when you look at education nationwide, the data is telling us that we have more females being educated than males.

So when you start digging deeper, they're faced with obstacles that nobody is addressing in any system. So higher education has said, "Let's look at this," because if we want our men to be successful, we've got to do something to help them with those nonacademic issues. Are they single parents? Are they having financial problems? Were they not raised by a father?

That is just one of the many efforts that the college puts forth to show we realize you're a person before you're a student.

You've been with the college for 19 years. Did you intend on being here this long?

I was hoping I would. I have definitely been blessed with the opportunity to be promoted and to learn and to grow.

There's not been one boring day. The provost deals with the whole campus. It's the whole gamut. The impact that can be made is greater but so is the growth opportunity for me. A lot of educators want to learn. So I look at the provost job as another opportunity to learn and another opportunity for leadership.

Plus, it gives me a chance to build partnerships and relationships with the community and showing the community that the institution is a viable part of the community.

What are your goals as provost?

Well, first I am coming in learning and assessing. You have to learn the lay of the land. Get to know your people. Gain their confidence. So for me, initially I want to get to know the staff, get familiar with the campus, the city and the students. I also want to grow the campus (physically and student bodywise.) The people here work hard and they do an excellent job with the resources they have.

As a team, we'll sit down and look at the scope of the land, what needs to be fixed and where are we going. And we'll put together a campus vision, a collection of ideas.

What do you consider the role of the community college in the higher education landscape?

Well, we've tried to be all things to all people. We work with work force, K-12, business partners and other colleges. We offer degrees from 20 other institutions here at St. Petersburg College. We work with any student where they are to help them reach their dream.

What do you think about the fact you're making history as the first African-American female in this job?

I actually had to be told this was a historical moment. This job was a blessing, a great opportunity and I'm up for the challenge. The first means nothing if you're not successful. So my focus is to get in here and do my job and do it well.

Tell me about your home life. Do you and Derrick have children?

Well, we've raised four boys who were not ours. Two were family members and two were not. We had them at different times, but I don't have any of my own, but everybody seems to want to give me some.

What do you like to do for fun?

I'm a worker. I like to do things in the community. People feel comfortable coming to us with problems. We often have had to go to the grocery store to help someone or something like that. It's just a quiet little opportunity to help someone the way my family had been helped so many times growing up.

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 06:22:19]