The trip to Logan, West Virginia, as approached on Route 119, is a
picturesque drive amid gently swelling hills that from a distance in
summer appear to be sheathed in gargantuan bunches of broccoli. The
modern four-lane highway that links the Capital City and its environs
to the heart of the coal country is an easy commute today for
travelers, a far cry from the time when they had to maneuver dusty
serpentine roads to get to the coalfields of southern West Virginia.
Just off the Logan exit, in two neat brick buildings overlooking
the road that leads into downtown Logan, is the administrative
headquarters of Southern West Virginia Community and Technical
College, presided over by its dynamo of a president, Joanne Jeager
Tomblin. And it's somewhat emblematic that like the roads leading to
Logan, a big city girl full of energy and panache at first took a
circuitous path that eventually led her to the college where she is
making a difference by ensuring that quality higher education is
available to those living in a less populous area of the state.
Joanne's marking her fifth year as president of Southern and if the
glowing comments from throughout the college community and beyond its
borders are any indication, she's brought energy, insight, compassion,
and a razor-sharp intellect to the job and has turned an institution
with a troubled past into a vibrant, burgeoning institution that's
making an impact on the people and the area about which she cares so
deeply.
To those who know her and her determined can-do attitude, the
success isn't surprising. She's upbeat and optimistic with boundless
energy that allows her to successfully juggle several roles at once,
the most important being mom to 13-year-old Brent, she'll tell you up
front. Besides being the community college's chief executive, she's
the wife of one of the state's leading and busiest public figures,
she's an accomplished hostess-she once treated the now British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and his family to a down-home cookout, a tireless
participant in community affairs, a terrific cook, and a woman who
takes great pride in making a comfortable home that is welcoming to
family, friends and guests alike.
But hosting future Prime Ministers in the hills of West Virginia
and heading up a sprawling four-campus college were the farthest
things from the mind of the young Joanne Jeager as she was growing up
in the peaceful enclaves of Long Island, New York, a "Happy Days" kind
of existence which she remembers fondly. The only child of John, a
chemical engineer for American Electric Company, and Margaret, she was
born in Jamaica, Queens, and lived there until moving to Syosset, in
Nassau County, a town named after one of the many Native American
tribes that had inhabited that area 200 years ago.
"I had an ordinary, middle-class upbringing," Joanne, who was an
athletic child, recalls. "I played stick ball in the street and did
all the things kids do. I played ball, field hockey and volley ball,
took gymnastics, and was a cheerleader. And since the area had once
belonged to the Indians, we would go looking for arrow heads and other
artifacts."
As a teenager there were carefree days with trips to New York City
with her friends. They would ride the train into the city and then hop
subways to explore the city. There was a delightful menu of activities
to choose from -plays, movies, lunches, dinner, and of course,
shopping, all the things so dear to a teenager's heart. They felt safe
to roam most of the city pretty freely back then. It was a halcyon
time before the urban ills of street drugs and violent random crime
darkened the cityscape. She and her friends reveled in the heady
experience of savoring the sights and offerings of Manhattan.
When it came time for her to enter high school, she was fortunate
to be able to attend Syosset High School, an rigorous school in which
academics definitely came first. With a student body of 3,500, her
class of 900 had an astounding college-going rate. Only two of her
classmates didn't go on to college -they opted to enter the military
instead.
"It was a very family and academically oriented community and
school. You would never find athletic events going on during the day.
All of our events were in the evenings and on weekends," Joanne
recalls. "Even though it was a large school, we were really a
close-knit group. I still correspond with many of my classmates and I
see them at reunions. Most of them have gone on to have successful
professional careers. It was an extraordinary class of people."
After graduation, Joanne attended the University of Hartford for
two years, majoring in science until an elective course in
communications changed her major-and her life.
"We did all kinds of things in the class and I absolutely loved it.
I knew this was something I could do but unfortunately Hartford, at
the time, didn't offer a degree in communications, so I knew I would
have to go someplace else," she explains. By coincidence, her father
regularly traveled to the Huntington area to visit nearby power
plants. On his visits he had heard good things about Marshall's School
of Journalism, information he passed on to his daughter.
"He said if I was really interested in a career in communications,
I should check out Marshall because he heard they had a great program.
So I applied and was accepted and made my first trip to West Virginia.
I came in the fall of 1973, and stayed in Twin Towers. I graduated in
1975 and my father was right, Marshall does have a great journalism
program. Marshall is just a great place altogether. I wouldn't have
had the career I've had if I hadn't gone through the program."
She excelled in her newly chosen field and her efforts paid off
handsomely when she was named Marshall University's Broadcast
Journalism Student of the Year in 1975. Her reporting skills, poise
and confidence quickly earned her a job with Huntington television
station WSAZ, where she was first a morning talk-show host and general
assignment reporter, and later the anchor of the noon news.
"That was a wonderful place to work," she remembers fondly. "I
covered all kinds of stories, from police matters to market-basket
reports to interview segments and all sorts of features. It was a
golden time at the station, with a group of exceptionally talented
people."
And, she emphasizes, she would not have had the job had it not been
for the training received at Marshall.
"With the skills and training I got at Marshall's journalism school
I felt very comfortable and I had confidence that I could do the job.
I owe that to my training."
Soon after receiving her bachelor's degree, Joanne entered
Marshall's graduate program in communications and was awarded a
diploma in 1978 while she was still at WSAZ. Six legislative
internships were being offered through the graduate schools of
Marshall and West Virginia University with three to go to each
institution. Those selected would work at the Legislature and also
receive graduate credit. It was too good an opportunity to pass up so
Joanne applied, went through the screening and interview process, and
was selected as one of the six.
Working at the State Capitol at the hub of state government and
being part of the bustle and excitement of a legislative session was a
heady experience for the young journalist. And although she didn't
know it then, a man was about to enter her life and change it forever.
She hadn't planned it but the hills of West Virginia were about to
become her permanent home.
When Joanne Jeager and Earl Ray Tomblin met, he was an
up-and-coming freshman legislator, a savvy young businessman serving
his first term in the House of Representatives, representing a region
of southern West Virginia. They met when he called and asked her to
write a press release to send to the folks back home. It was a case of
big city girl meets cool country guy and the romantic sparks flew.
"We hit it off immediately," she says. "Back then, interns weren't
supposed to date anyone at the Legislature so we waited until the
session was over and then began dating. We got married in 1979 so it
was a long courtship. I traveled from Huntington to Logan to
Charleston while going to school and working at WSAZ and he was
running a business in Logan. I originally had planned to move back to
Long Island or to move to a bigger television market, but when I met
Earl Ray, that definitely changed the course of things!"
Following her marriage and a move to Logan, Joanne quickly landed a
job working half-time as the managing director of the Logan Chamber of
Commerce and half-time at Southern working with continuing and
community education. In 1981, she was asked to run the aging program
in Logan, a job which meshed perfectly with her communications
background and her journalism degrees.
"When you have journalism and PR skills, you can tackle almost
anything," she says. After a successful two-year tenure with the
program she returned to Southern in 1983 as a full-time media
specialist and has been there ever since. It was the beginning of an
ongoing relationship that would culminate in her taking over the reins
of the institution she had served so faithfully for two decades and
fiercely defending the role of the college as a valuable educational
and economic development tool for southern West Virginia.
She tackled her duties with her usual energy and verve and with
each success her responsibilities grew. "I did all kinds of jobs at
Southern," she recalls. "I taught classes in communications and
speech; I did administrative work as the campus director at the Boone
campus; I oversaw the television, graphics and human resources
departments; I was interim dean of the Logan campus for a while. Later
I was assistant to the president for Dr. Greg Adkins and served as
associate vice president while Dr. Harry Bowyer was here. I became a
vice president for economic and community development working for the
next president, Dr. Kirkland. I worked as hard as I could in each
position and tried to learn as much as I could."
Although Joanne had done all of her jobs well, the 1990s brought
about acrimonious turmoil for the college and there were tumultuous
times ahead. Two presidents came and went relatively quickly, but not
before several unpopular administrative decisions from their offices
had polarized the faculty and staff and news of the college's problems
spilled out to the press. For a while it seemed there were almost
daily negative stories appearing, which further demoralized the staff.
By the late 1990s the college that had begun so proudly was listing
badly under the weight of bad decisions and bad press. If one thing
was clear, it was that a firm hand was needed to change course. And it
became more and more apparent to many people, both inside and outside
the college, that the firm hand needed to steer the now-struggling
institution in a new direction belonged to Joanne Tomblin.
But first she had to be convinced to become a candidate. "I never
would have dreamed about becoming a president of a college," she
emphasizes. "But we had very serious problems at the college. The
faculty and staff were upset and there were so many barriers between
all of the constituents. We were the center of attention with stories
about our turmoil in the media. The North Central Association did an
accreditation evaluation of us in 1997 and told us we were in big
trouble. When people started encouraging me to apply for the position,
I was reluctant at first. But then I started thinking, 'maybe I can do
this.' It seemed [as if] all the circumstances came together and led
me to consider it. I knew the position needed someone who knew the
area, who had been with the institution and knew its inner workings,
and who had good rapport with both the staff and the community. It
would take a lot of time and effort to bring the institution back to
the way it was years ago but I thought I would take a stab at it
myself. It wasn't an easy road."
If Joanne at first had doubts about becoming Southern's next
president, Shelley Huffman, currently chair of Southern's
Institutional Board of Advisors and a member of the search committee,
had none.
"I have known Joanne for a number of years and I've worked with the
college over the years and I have always felt that support on the
committee was very strong for her," Huffman says. "And time has proven
that our choice of supporting her for the presidency was not only
right at the time, it has proved every day to be even more right for
southern West Virginia."
Irene Murphy, an administrator in the Jackson County School System
who is a longtime friend of the Tomblin's, knew from the beginning
that Joanne was the perfect choice for the role. "She is talented, she
is bright, she is skilled, she is a leader among leaders," Murphy
says.
Once appointed to the post, Joanne, with her characteristic energy
and her finely honed communication skills, lost no time in doing what
she felt was most crucial at the time: listening to all kinds of
people, faculty, staff and members of the community, all those who had
a vision for the future of Southern and had ideas on how to fix past
ills. For many of the faculty and staff who often had found themselves
at odds with previous administrations, it was a time of healing. In
listening to them, she became a unifier.
"I spent my first several months doing one-on-one interviews with
everyone in the college. I told them I wanted them to tell me what we
needed to do to improve. I said if there is one thing that you want to
see happen, what would it be. Interestingly, so many of the people
were saying the same things. I took all the information and basically
started implementing things that people said we needed to do. I
believe strongly in consensus building and doing things as a team. Now
the staff trusts me to do those things. Within a year we were
beginning to get ourselves on a positive path."
Shelley Huffman agrees that the team approach works. "It's more
than just her leadership abilities. Joanne brings out the best in
people. When she not only listens, but buys into your ideas, that
makes people know that they are valued. She meets with faculty and
staff on a regular basis and tries to find out how they feel about
things and tries to implement their ideas."
"President Tomblin not only envisions the growth and development of
the college, but of the entire community," says Debbie Dingess, chair
of the college's Classified Staff Council. "I have experienced the
true camaraderie between Joanne as president and the classified staff
as a whole. She listens and takes into consideration their concerns.
She encourages suggestions and assistance in issues that affect
classified staff. She is involved in several different community
projects, functions and events."
And, she continues, "It has been said that leaders keep their eyes
on the horizon, not just the bottom line. This is certainly true of
Joanne for she leads our institution with a vision. She stands behind
her work and if she says she will do it, then she will do it."
Pamela Alderman, who is the administrative vice president and dean
of Southern's Allied Health programs, concurs with the success of the
president's consensus building.
"She's the best thing that has ever happened to Southern West
Virginia Community and Technical College," she says adamantly. "I
worked with her here at the college for several years before she
became president. She has the institution and the people who work here
at heart ... She'll have an idea today, or someone else will, and
tomorrow you'll see it form and in two or three months or a year
you'll see the fruits of the ideas. She's not just a talker, she's a
doer."
And, Alderman adds, "I worked here under several presidents before
her. Some of them were here for a short period of time and it seemed
like years. Joanne has been president for nearly five years and it
seems like yesterday. She has pulled everyone together."
Joanne's attention to detail is legendary She put together a team,
which included Alderman and other staff members, to make regular trips
to high schools and other schools in their service area. They visit
students in an effort to increase the college-going rate. "We tell
them we hope you'll come to Southern, but if you don't, we want you to
get an education," Alderman says.
The team wore a uniform of sorts - neat black jackets and slacks
and a shirt topped off with a scarf that bore Southern's insignia, all
very sharp and official looking. "Joanne had the idea that we needed
to get down to these kids' levels to reach them so last year we bought
polo shirts with our logo on the sleeve and we wear them with khaki
pants. She wears them, we all wear them and the kids love it. So far
she's made 94 school visits."
When it comes to Southern, Joanne champions her institution with
the enthusiasm of a cheerleader and the fervor of an evangelist.
"We have a wonderful staff here, a great faculty and
administration," Joanne says. "They got behind me and supported the
efforts I was making and we forged ahead. I am such a believer in
community colleges and their missions and what they can do in the
community. We support baccalaureate institutions and universities
completely, but we have a big rate of illiteracy, a poor economy and
the community college is going to be the option in this part of the
state to train and educate the workforce. I believe that education and
economic development go hand in glove and that you've got to educate
people and bring them to a skill level necessary to build the economy
and bring business and industry here to southern West Virginia. That's
what we're trying to do, but it's not something that's going to happen
tomorrow."
It's a continuing process, one that requires great commitment and
determination from everyone involved, she firmly believes. "We're
going to have to be continually working on making things better. Most
people who work here believe that the college is going to be the
catalyst that is going to turn southern West Virginia around.
Education is the hope. A lot of people here can't afford to go
anywhere else. They're close knit, they have family ties, and they
can't easily leave the area so we have to provide that opportunity to
them. I love what I do and I always believe in pushing the envelope!"
Although the administration is housed in Logan, SWVCTC actually has
four campuses spread through southern West Virginia that serve
graduates from nine West Virginia counties as well as eastern
Kentucky. In addition to the Logan site, there are campuses in
Williamson, Pineville and Danville that altogether employ 65 full-time
faculty, about 75 adjunct instructors per semester, along with 125
classified staff spread throughout the system. Southern will be part
of the new higher education complex now being constructed in Beckley.
Most campuses have a manager who takes care of custodial matters and
events, and works with students and recruiters. Each campus has an
academic chair who looks after academic affairs. The courses run the
gamut from general education and technical to non-credit and community
education classes.
"One thing about community colleges, we adapt to whatever the
community may need," Joanne says. "We're very flexible; we try all
different types of formats and delivery. Our faculty is so innovative
and cooperative. We're doing distance learning; we have electronic
classrooms that hook our campuses together."
Probably their most popular degree are those in the allied health
areas, which include training in nursing, radiologic technology,
paramedic science, and surgical technology. They are rigorous,
much-sought-after programs with selective admission requirements.
"This year we had 150 slots for 500 applicants," Joanne says. "They're
excellent programs."
In fact, the success of the course offerings at Southern, including
the Allied Health program, got national attention when the Discovery
Channel did a laudatory report on its "Champions of Industries: Focus
on Education" segment. With on-location filming, the program featured
interviews with several staff members, including Joanne.
Joanne brims with her trademark enthusiasm not only for her college
and its programs but for the state as well. The transplanted New
Yorker is one of West Virginia's biggest boosters, a proud one-woman
Chamber of Commerce touting the state's natural assets, particularly
its people.
"West Virginia has been absolutely wonderful to me and I want to
give back to the state. It has been a blessing for me to be here. I've
met wonderful people in West Virginia and made wonderful friends. I
think it would be more of a shock for people going from West Virginia
to New York. When you live and grow up with that pace, you don't
realize how fast everything is going. And this is really nice," she
says with her warm laugh.
But it was something of a culture shock when she made that first
trip to Marshall. She came as a junior and fortunately her first
roommate was from Manhattan. "We had a learning curve together," she
remembers. "But I believe that you can make the most of wherever you
live. I got involved in everything and went out and met people. At
first I missed having the conveniences that a big city offers but I
think the quality of life is better here. I would never want to go
back ... this is my home and I've been here since 1973," she says
proudly.
Both Tomblin's take immense pride in their son Brent, who despite
being the only child of two high profile parents, has remained above
all an unflappable and down-to-earth young man. A gifted athlete who
excels in both baseball and basketball, he has handled his parents'
public life with aplomb and maturity beyond his 13 years. Joanne is
very proud of the modest 7th grader, a hard working student who wins
praise from his teachers and is popular with classmates. In fact, at
one time there were three presidents in the Tomblin home when Brett
was serving as president of his fourth-grade class. Needless to say,
Joanne and Earl Ray are avid fans at his games.
"We've tried to raise him so that he has a normal life," Joanne
says. "He knows we both have jobs and they're important, and he
understands. But we're so pleased that teachers consider him to be a
great kid. Right now his 'profession of the month' is to be a
pharmacist."
Entertaining is a large part of the Tomblins' life. A variety of
people from all walks of life stream in and out of their home -
political figures and many of Earl Ray's colleagues, people from the
college and the community, friends, relatives and neighbors - all find
a warm welcome.
But it's not a chore for her; quite the contrary, in fact. "I love
to entertain," Joanne says with her customary enthusiasm. She's not
daunted by playing hostess to high profile visitors either. The Tony
Blair family is a good case in point.
"They were visiting West Virginia several years before he became
England's Prime Minister and while he was a Member of Parliament," she
recalls. "We invited them to our home for a cookout and they were the
most down-to-earth people you would ever want to meet. They had their
two children with them. His wife Cheri was a lovely person. We have a
lot of West Virginia crafts in our home and she really loved them. She
has a great appreciation for crafts and she admired the quilts. Her
attention was taken by a hand-crafted pillow. She liked it so much I
gave it to her as a gift."
Irene Murphy never ceases to be amazed at her friend's versatility.
"She is just a jack of all trades," she says with admiration. "She can
do anything. She loves crafts and she can sit down and make anything.
She's a crafter of beautiful things but she's also very down to earth.
She likes to can and she and Earl Ray love to garden. If you go to her
pantry, there will be shelves full of canned goods she put up herself
- green beans, relish, tomatoes, juices, all kinds of sauces. And when
you walk into her home, there's always something good cooking - we all
love to smell the aroma of her cooking."
And, she adds, "You can walk into her house on a Saturday and you
might find her painting a bedroom or wallpapering. This lady really
does it all!"
Joanne has been in the public eye almost since she first came to
West Virginia but she's unflappable when it comes to fulfilling her
duties as a wife, mother, college president, and wife of one of the
state's most powerful public figures.
"Being the wife of a senator and being a college president can be
good and bad," she says frankly. "I've always felt I needed to prove
myself more than other people. I work twice as hard to prove that I'm
here for what I can do and not because of who I am married to. People
think we go home at the end of the day and talk about all kinds of
professional things in private, but we don't. Even if we wanted to, we
don't have time!"
Her friends know her as loyal and devoted, someone who is always
there for them. Irene Murphy says, "She is a person who knows how to
treat people and knows how to bring out the best in them."
Her television career has helped Joanne cope with being in the
public eye. "Having a background in journalism and public relations
enables you to take on whatever job you want to take on. You know you
can do the work and your training gives you the skill to do it," she
says.
Actually, with her burnished good looks, she would be just as much
at home today sitting at a television anchor desk as she was nearly 30
years ago. And no matter where she goes, she knows she's representing
Southern - she's its best ambassador of good will.
Her rapport with the community and her successful tenure at the
college is helpful to a new avenue Southern is exploring. Under
Joanne's direction, Southern is currently putting together an
ambitious endowment campaign, something that is somewhat atypical for
a community college, but necessary she feels in these days of
shrinking budgets and rising costs.
"Colleges all over the country are struggling with budgets," she
says. "In the past community colleges didn't do fund raising because
they were publicly funded and really didn't have to worry as much
about money. But as time has gone on and budgets are decreasing, the
need for the president to be a fundraiser is becoming more and more
necessary and that includes community colleges. You've got to have
that type of skill or personality and a rapport with the community to
enable you to do that kind of work."
She's looking forward to the launch of the campaign, probably next
year. "We've never done anything like this and it's going to be a big
job."
Shelley Huffman has no doubts at all that the campaign will be
successful. " Last year Southern was the only community college in the
state that did not raise tuition. That was because of her leadership
and her commitment to cut costs and to do things without having an
adverse impact on the students. We raised tuition this year, about
$30, after a lot of thought."
Since her first day in office Joanne has maintained an open-door
policy to faculty and staff. Her office is furnished with warm
jewel-like hues, flower arrangements, lots of treasured family photos
and an eclectic collection of objects ranging from a prized basketball
autographed by Jerry West, who grew up just a few miles down the road,
to a whimsical glass hat filled with candy. She doesn't eat the candy,
but it's there for any and all to come and sample, and the staff feels
free to do so and to stop and chat. It's a friendly tradition, a
symbol of her openness and her desire to keep communication lines open
to all those around her.
"We have good people who manage the campuses and they're very aware
of what the college is doing and where it is going and what's going on
at the other campuses. We try to hold to a one college concept even
though we have four locations."
Joanne's dedication not only to Southern but to the community as
well has earned her accolades from community groups. In 2002, she was
awarded the Logan County Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Award and
in 2003 she received the Distinguished Service Award from the Regional
Assistance Center.
It's not easy for the Tomblin's to carve out personal time, but
they make time for travel whenever they can eke out a few days from
packed calendars.
"We both love to travel; it's kind of a passion for us and we take
Brent with us so he can see other places, and it's a time for us to be
together as a family," Joanne says. They've traveled all over the
state and the country and to other parts of the world as well. They
particularly like Scotland.
"There is a lot of similarity to West Virginia," she recalls
fondly. "The country with its hills and with the way the people are,
it's almost like you're at home here. The Scottish people are very
laid back and they remind me a lot of West Virginians. That's not too
unusual as West Virginia has a large number of people who are of
Scottish descent."
The church is an important part of the Tomblin family's life.
They're active members of the Presbyterian Church of Logan. "My faith
has definitely guided me through many days of turmoil here at the
college and in seeking direction for our future," Joanne says.
While she's created a comfortable niche deep in the lush hills of
West Virginia, it's for sure the dynamic and innovative college
president will never settle for the status quo. She found the work she
loves, a mission to use her skills and abilities to help people and
most of all an enriching and enduring marriage.
"I couldn't ask for a better person to be married to," she says
quietly. "We've been married 25 years and we have both been devoted to
public service. Both of us have a passion for this area and as a team
we can do great things for southern West Virginia. Together we have
accomplished many things."
And even with all those accomplishments, for those who know Joanne
Jeager Tomblin and her dedication, determination, boundless energy,
optimism, and a passion for excellence in whatever she does, there is
little doubt that the best is yet to come.
Pat Dickson is coordinator of media and community
relations at the South Charleston campus of Marshall University.
