President of Coahoma Community College
While it is a challenging economic time for higher education because of funding cutbacks, one advantage in the Mississippi Delta is people have long been accustomed to multitasking and economizing, says Dr. Valmadge Towner, President of Coahoma Community College (CCC) in Clarksdale.
“We’re are in a situation with obvious limited resources,” says Towner. “State revenue has decreased by significantly since I became President in 2013. But we have kept a strong fund balance by reducing budget expenditures. Everyone on my campus wears all kinds of hats depending on the time of day or year. We realize we have to marshal resources and do multiple things rather than having the luxury of doing one thing at one time. That is the lay of the land. It goes with the turf.”
Towner believes the key to guiding the staff at CCC is recognizing the importance of relationships and giving people credit. He does a number of different things but rarely by himself.
“I have a lot of teammates who assist,” says Towner. “That teamwork and emphasis on relationships is why you see people all over the Delta who are doing well. Deltans realize the importance of networking and understanding they can’t do things by themselves. You can find people from the Delta in leadership positions all over the world who have thrived in part because they value the importance of networking with people.”
Bennie Brown, President of the CCC Board of Trustees, says he admires that Towner has done such a good job of assembling an excellent staff on all levels from professors to administrative staff and campus security.
“I see a level of respect on both sides that is very good,” says Brown, who works in community development. “He has a great understanding of what students are dealing with including the high levels of poverty in the area. We have great, talented students and he realizes what it takes to bring out the best in these students. He inspires the teachers and really wants students to succeed.”
Towner grew up in Marks and Clarksdale. He went to St. Elizabeth’s Catholic School from elementary through junior high before attending Quitman County High School (now Madison Central High School). He had a special needs brother two years older and his parents became special education teachers in part because they saw how important that was for their son.
Towner is a third-generation teacher. In addition to his parents, a grandfather, aunts and uncles were educators.
It never occurred to him to leave the Delta in search of opportunities elsewhere.
“I’m just a little country boy who loves the Delta and the people of the Delta,” says Towner. “The house I grew up in is still in the family. My wife, Natasha Brown Towner, and I made a conscious decision to remain in the Delta and want to see it do well.”
The most difficult part of his job is balancing the budget.
“We have had to reduce our expenditures to get in line with revenues,” he says. “That has been painful. We had some federal funds paused which impacted certain people. We had to be proactive in making those decisions to economize. We are making sure we don’t just have it on paper but that everyday practices and expenditures are in line. One way to get into really hot water is to not pay bills.”
The hardest part of his job is the lack of funds to do everything needed. Students are now having to pay more than ever to get degrees or certifications. He makes a conscious effort to not let that siphon off his energy. “Keep a level head and do what you can,” he says. “Don’t dwell on what you can’t do.”
Despite those challenges, he is excited that enrollment declines have turned around with a twenty percent increase in enrollment this year—the largest in the community college system.
Historically, over the past thirty years, CCC had 1,100 students. After reaching 2,000 in 2017, it peaked at 3,000 in 2011. Then Covid in 2020 took them back down to 1,500 students. The college now has about 2,065 students.
CCC’s tuition costs only about a third that of a four-year college. That is important to many students.
“A good number of our high school graduates want to do training or a post-secondary venue of two years or less,” he says. “A two-year program is a good match for many of our students. Most of the time students earn a technical certificate after one semester or no longer than a year. The upside is seventy percent of these students remain in the area where they went to school. They have extremely strong family ties here so are less likely to leave upon graduation.”
Popular CTE programs include nursing, other health sciences, truck driving, welding, HVAC, culinary arts, barbering/cosmetology, electrical training, automotive and body repairs.
“CTE and health science degrees not only help pull up students economically, but their families as well,” says Towner. “It is a great economic driver for students and families. Many times, graduates have job offers by the time they graduate.”
Towner helped secure funding for comprehensive expansion at the Ned Gathwright Workforce Training Center. He also added evening programs for several CTE areas and implemented Commercial Truck Diving, Diesel Equipment Technology, Diesel Equipment, Electrical Technology, CISCO /Apple Coding and Early Childhood Academy as short-term programs. Nissan, Toyota and the pharmaceutical industries have made substantial annual donations to CTE programs.
CCC plays an important role as a college as a regional leader in providing services to GED participants, dislocated workers and workforce training services for business and industry through MIBest, SNAP initiatives and Career Pathway Implementation.
Towner’s first major role models were his parents, a sister ten years his senior and grandparents on both sides who were extremely reputable and hardworking. Plus, he feels blessed that every school he attended had outstanding, dedicated teachers.
After high school, he earned an Associate Degree in Computer Science from CCC before being convinced by his dad to major in mathematics education at Alcorn State University. There was then and is now a shortage of math and science teachers.
“I wanted to become a pilot,” says Towner. “But at that time in the 1980s, there were only two options to become a pilot: either go into the military or to flight school, which was rather expensive.”
His choice to be an educator still buoys him today. “The personal relationships you have with students is so important and personally gratifying,” says Towner. “Nothing melts my heart more than for former students to come up thirty years later and say I made a positive impact on their lives.”
Early in his career he was a college mathematics instructor, head college baseball coach and an assistant college football coach. He also was employed by Quitman County Schools as a principal and superintendent of education. He was Director of Pupil Services for Desoto County Schools prior to taking the helm at CCC.
At Alcorn State University, he graduated with a B.S. Degree in Mathematics, a Master’s Degree in Mathematics and a Master’s Degree in Administration. His list of academic achievements also includes a Master’s of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, N.J., and a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership from the University of Mississippi. He is also pastor of the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Greenwood that he has attended since childhood.
Towner oversaw the college investing in security fencing and gates for the main campus and adding security cameras and safety enhancements for the college. CCC has been named one of the top five safest schools in America each year.
“We are very diligent about safety,” says Towner. “We are living in a time when you can’t have a porous campus. We have a lot of camera surveillance that is very sophisticated. We also have access control to a lot of our buildings; you can’t get in without card access. We are just living in a time when we have to know who is on our campus.”
If he had more funding, he would double the number of dorm beds from 400 to 800. Those could easily be filled.
“We are having groundbreaking on another dorm this month,” says Towner. “We do a lot of digital or online classes, but there is nothing like being immersed in the social life of campus, being around people with different outlooks in life than you, and learning how to get along with each other.”
The favorite part of his job is the people he works with and interacting with students. “That makes my life extremely rich,” he says.
For recreation, he and his wife love RV camping and he finds nothing more relaxing than cutting the grass at home on his zero-turn lawn mower. He is an avid reader, and writes in his journal every day.
“Those two elements—reading and keeping a journal—were ingrained in me way back in Catholic school,” he says. “Writing is very therapeutic to me.”
Towner was recognized by Coahoma County and The State of Mississippi Chapters of NAACP Exemplary leadership to higher education issues. He has been named Citizen of the Year for Leflore County.