TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Stillman College Board of Trustees selected Dr. Yolanda W. Page as the institution’s eighth president at its May 4 meeting.
Page currently serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Savannah State University and will begin her tenure at Stillman on July 1.
She will succeed Dr. Cynthia Warrick, who has served as president at Stillman since 2017. Warrick announced her retirement in the fall of 2022.
Page has more than 30 years of higher education experience in a variety of faculty and leadership roles. Prior to her post at Savannah State, she served as vice president in the Division of Academic Affairs and professor of English at Dillard University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree.
Page has received numerous awards, including the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Chief Academic Officer Award (2020). Additionally, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education recognized her as one of 25 outstanding women in higher education (2017). She has completed leadership development programs with the American Council on Education, CIC, and the Millennial Leadership Institute.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to lead Stillman College, and I thank the board of trustees for its confidence in me to lead this storied institution,” Page said.
Page said Stillman’s institutional profile – a close-knit, private HBCU – mirrors her undergraduate experience as a first-generation college student and attracted her to pursue the presidency at Stillman.
“I knew Stillman would be the right place to make the type of impact I’ve strived to make in my career and, ultimately, I’d like to continue to make as a president [at Stillman],” she said. “That impact is grounded in student, faculty, and staff success and providing each of those groups with the tools and the access to resources that will allow them to grow and achieve what they feel are their missions in life.”
Page holds bachelor’s degrees in English and business management from Dillard and both a master’s degree and doctor of philosophy in American and African American literature from Louisiana State University.
Page has studied abroad in Ghana as a United Negro College Fund/Mellon International Faculty Seminar Fellow and is a certified Supplemental Instruction Supervisor. She has worked extensively with high-risk students, first-generation students, and learning communities.
“The board of trustees is excited to appoint Dr. Page as the eighth president of Stillman College,” said Donald W. Comer, chair of the Stillman College Board of Trustees. “Dr. Page has rich experience, having served at multiple institutions demonstrating exceptional leadership, innovative academic programing, robust fundraising, and solid financial acumen. We are confident that she can not only sustain but accelerate the momentum that Stillman has experienced in recent years.”
Among Page’s accomplishments is supervising the launch of new academic programs. In her nine months at Savannah State, she supervised the creation of six certificate programs, and, at Dillard, she led the development of the institution’s first master’s program – a master of science in nursing. She also oversaw the development of the university’s first online degree program, a nationally recognized pre-law program, and Dillard’s Center for Racial Justice. Additionally, during the course of her career, Page has secured approximately $40 million in funding to support curriculum redesign and faculty professional development.
A similar opportunity to spearhead new academic programs exists at Stillman, as the institution continues to reshape its liberal arts profile to meet workforce needs, particularly in cybersecurity and information technology. Backed by a $2.7 million federal grant, Stillman is renovating Geneva Hall on campus to house a cybersecurity and IT training center that will support both campus and the Tuscaloosa West End community.
Additionally, the campus continues to undergo dramatic overhauls to learning and living spaces, as well as its technology infrastructure. Stillman recently received a $2.7 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to upgrade its fiber and wireless network across campus; the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the calendar year and will also support activity at the cybersecurity training center.
“Meeting the needs of the workforce is critical for the outcomes of our students and growing the institution for the future,” Page said. “We will continue to find new niches that will allow us to educate and serve traditional and non-traditional students, as well as our community to build a ‘communiversity’ and achieve a true town-and-gown relationship with the city of Tuscaloosa.”
Page’s husband and children will join her in Tuscaloosa and look forward to becoming a part of the Stillman College family. Her husband, David, is a higher education consultant. They have two children – William, a junior at Morehouse College, and Brooke, a ninth grader.
