As Dr. Henry N. Tisdale ends a quarter-century at the helm of Claflin University, he finishes the race with a track record that makes him one of the most transformational college presidents of his time.
Asked what he would select as preeminent among a lengthy list of Claflin advances during his 25 years as president, Tisdale references third-party rankings as a top HBCU and a premier liberal arts institution.
“I think that my most significant achievement was repositioning the university as one of America’s best colleges,” says Tisdale, a 1965 Claflin honor graduate.
His leadership meant immediate and consistent progress toward his vision of creating plans for increasing enrollment and enhancing academic excellence, establishing strong strategic planning and fiscal processes, and reaffirming the school’s Christian tradition.
Within months of arriving as Claflin’s eighth president in 1994, Tisdale announced the creation of the Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics. Before the year ended, Claflin established the Alice Carson Tisdale Honors College.
His biggest challenge faced him when he arrived – making the school’s budget match its huge vision to be a preeminent school in the southeast.
“We wanted to be the best among the best, but our resources didn’t say that,” he recalls.
