HIGH PROFILE: Philander Smith College president Roderick Smothers

It was the mid '90s and Roderick Smothers was working in the financial aid office at Louisiana State University when something began to trouble him.

Smothers, who grew up "borderline poor" in a single-parent home in Vidalia, La., was a graduate of LSU. He joined the Air Force Reserve out of high school, earned scholarships and worked part time to put himself through college, earning his bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in public administration, and a doctorate in educational leadership, research and counseling from LSU.

But the plight of those students who didn't have access to similar resources ate at him, kept him up at night.

"Here was a young person who probably came from a community similar to mine," he says, "who had to end their education abruptly because they simply couldn't afford it. I said, 'Something has to be done about this.' In America, not having money should not be the reason a student cannot pursue their post-secondary education dreams. That became my mantra, my passion. That's what I've been all about."

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Smothers, a 43-year-old father of five, is recalling his early days in education from his spacious office at Little Rock's Philander Smith College. The historically black college is celebrating its 140th anniversary this year. He has been the institution's president since 2015.

"There's so much I want to tell you," he says of his vision for the school.

Colleges and universities such as Philander Smith are a vital component in getting black students on the track to earning degrees, Smothers says, and he has dedicated his life to them.

"I discovered that there was a singular mission to get more African Americans in college and through college, and that's when I fell in love with the historically black colleges and universities' mission," he says.

"I made a commitment that I would only work at historically black colleges and universities and that my life's work would be promoting those institutions."

He has statistics.

"In America, 40 percent of black engineers graduate from [historically black colleges and universities]," he says, citing figures from the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) used in Philander Smith materials. For lawyers, that number is 50 percent. Eighty percent of judges and 40 percent of black members of Congress got their start at historically black colleges.

Smothers hit the ground running when he arrived at Philander Smith, which is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is Arkansas' only member of the UNCF. When he took over, after the resignation of president Johnny Moore, the school had an enrollment of about 500. The school's board of directors told him it needed 650 students to stay afloat.

By the start of this school year, after an aggressive plan of recruiting that has had Smothers scouring Arkansas schools for potential Philander Smith enrollees, there were 765 students -- so many, in fact, that the school had to find additional housing for them. About 80 students stayed at a La Quinta Inn before living quarters were established on nearby property owned by the college.

More than $500,000 for scholarships was raised in his first eight months on the job, and Philander Smith has established the Dr. Joycelyn Elders School of Allied and Public Health, named for the former U.S. surgeon general and Philander Smith alumni.

The allied and public health school is just one part of Smothers' five-pronged Philander Forward Initiative, which also addresses campus culture, workforce partnerships with corporate and industrial firms, a teacher excellence task force and the Student Tuition Assistance and Readiness Tracks (START), which prepares incoming freshmen for college life.

Kevontae Carter, a Philander Smith freshman and 2016 graduate of Parkview Arts/Science Magnet School in Little Rock, was a START student, although he hadn't even planned on going to college until he met Smothers during a luncheon at Philander Smith.

"I had the credentials to go to college, but that wasn't even on my mind," Carter says. "I met Dr. Smothers, and he offered me a scholarship. He decided to mentor me, and we connected and have built a relationship from that day. He's like another father figure in my life. He's a really great person."

And Smothers isn't shy about showing his students the other side of what a college administrator does, Carter says, taking them to fundraisers and banquets and encouraging them to network. He also keeps an open-door policy for students each Wednesday at his office to chat and listen to their concerns.

"Dr. Smothers opened my eyes to the fact that I can speak and think for myself, that I'm good at these things and should go to college," says Carter, who is considering becoming a dentist or, perhaps, an engineer.

"He is very ambitious and is a transformational leader," says Philander Smith alumni and board member emeritus Charles Donaldson, who was co-chairman of the search committee that vetted Smothers and other candidates for the president's job. "We liked him. He's very intelligent and is the person that I think we need at this time. He's got big dreams and visions for the campus."

VIDALIA

That ambition and ability to dream big took root in Vidalia, a small town of just over 4,000 that sits on the Mississippi River across from Natchez, Miss. Smothers looks back fondly on growing up there with his mother, Corine, and two younger sisters.

"I always felt safe in Vidalia," he says, and returns often to visit Mom.

"It refreshes me. It revives me," he says of returning home. "Whenever I need to be re-energized, I go back to Vidalia."

Spoiler alert: He was a good student -- a member of the Student Council, Beta Club and 4-H -- and while his mother worked two and three jobs at a time, she made sure her children kept their focus.

"My mom valued education in the household," he remembers. "Before we could go out and play, we had to get our homework done."

If he and his sisters got distracted while doing schoolwork at the kitchen table, their grandfather, Solomon, would rap their knuckles with a thick pencil. "He only completed school through the fifth grade," Smothers says, "but he loved math. He was a real mathematician."

Another constant of life in Vidalia was church. The family attended Zion Baptist, where Smothers worked through his shyness by teaching Sunday School and leading Bible study classes.

There was also time spent in the public library, which was in the same building as the office of his beloved 4-H Club. At the library, he pored over books and comics like Iron Man, Wonder Woman and Thor.

Right out of high school, he got married to Renee, who was five years older. He enlisted in the Air Force Reserve to go along with his scholarships and help pay his tuition at LSU. While at school, he bonded with his newfound brothers in Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity -- "they taught me how to be a leader," Smothers says.

He was supposed to be a doctor -- a neurosurgeon, actually. That was the hope of his mother and grandfather, but he soon left the pre-med track. "It broke my mom's heart," he says. Earning his doctorate in educational leadership in 2003, though, was a good compromise. And it was his post-graduate work studying the impact of a state-run program to increase minority participation in college in Louisiana that enlightened Smothers to historically black colleges.

Was the program working?

"The resounding answer was no," Smothers says of the findings of his dissertation, but one thing that did work was historically black colleges and universities.

"[Historically black colleges and universities] and their unique missions were real and making a significant impact on the state of African Americans in Louisiana," he says. After leaving LSU, Smothers joined the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In 2000, Renee died after a long battle with breast cancer.

"We watched her go through chemo," Smothers says. He leaned on his family and faith to cope. "It was very difficult. She was in pain all the time. All we could do was hold her tight and try to make her comfortable."

In 2005, Smothers moved on to Langston University in Langston, Okla., where he served as associate vice president for academic affairs and helped raise more than $30 million for the school. By 2011, he was at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, as vice president for institutional advancement, where he was tasked with raising money for a new community health and wellness center and a gymnasium.

"It was an overwhelming goal," says Rich Oppel, a former editor at the Austin-American Statesman and a volunteer at Huston-Tillotson who worked closely with Smothers. "The figure was something like $45 million and never before had the school raised more than a few million dollars a year."

Oppel ushered Smothers around town and showed him the ropes. That $45 million goal was just out of reach, but enough was raised to build the health and wellness center, which was completed in 2016, Oppel says from Austin.

"He was very smart, savvy and practical," he says, when referring to Smothers. "He's serious, has a deep affection and respect for students and is open to new ideas. He's also uproarious to work with and very funny."

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED

Full disclosure: This was not Smothers' first go-round at Philander Smith. He applied earlier and lost the job to Moore but jumped right back into the mix when Moore resigned in 2014 after just two years.

"I was devastated," he says of that initial rejection, but he turned it into a teaching moment. "That was an opportunity to demonstrate [to my kids] that it's OK to not succeed at first. You deal with it and keep moving forward."

Ask him what attracted him to Philander Smith and the answer comes quickly.

"It was the students. When it was announced I was going to be a candidate [the second time], I had students reach out through Facebook and social media. The energy and excitement they had around finding a new leader, along with the wonderful things they were doing themselves, it was amazing. I fell in love with the students."

The school has been around since 1877, with Founder's Day celebration events taking place on the campus at 900 W. Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive on Thursday, beginning with a 10 a.m. chapel service followed by an alumni lunch, the naming of the campus center and the carillon bell ringing.

Smothers is exactly where he wants to be, doing the work he feels called to do, work that is more of a passion than a job or even a career.

"My professional life has been about educational justice, and Philander Smith's mission statement spoke to me," he says. "We have tangible examples of what historically black colleges and universities can do.

"The fact is that as a country and a state we always hover around 50 percent of young black kids not participating in any form of higher education. If we can simply go to them and say, 'Look, give college a try and we're going to be there to support you.' Our mission allows us to believe in those kids and create a situation where they can be successful."

High Profile on 03/05/2017

"I encountered young folks who looked like me who were having issues," he says. "They couldn't afford to go to college and, for some, if they couldn't come up with the funds, they had to go back home."