Bennett College President Prepares for a Year of Achievement Before Stepping Down
By Eleanor Lee Yates
Greensboro, N.C.
When Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole announced on July 11 that she would retire as president of Bennett College in June of 2007, faculty, staff and friends of the college tried to persuade her to reconsider. It was no use.
“It is just time to move on. I don’t claim to have ESP or see in the future. I’m just a rational person capable of making decisions and executing them,” she says. “When I went to Spelman College [as president], I said ‘10 years.’ And that’s how long I was there. Five years was the number I saw when I came here in 2002, and I will honor that.”
Cole is credited with pulling the historically Black women’s college out of a downward spiral. During her tenure, she has led the college off probationary status and steered it back on track financially. When Cole arrived, Bennett was operating with a $3 million deficit. Now, the endowment has grown from $7 million to $10 million, and enrollment is up. Three historic buildings have also been renovated in the past four years, and other buildings have been upgraded.
“I think that one of the biggest effects Dr. Cole has had on Bennett is increased recognition and visibility,” says Dr. Claudette H. Williams, the college’s executive vice president. “Bennett has become a place with which individuals, foundations and other institutions now want to associate. This is evident in the types of partnerships that have been forged.”
According to Williams, the positive attitude Cole brought to campus with her in 2002 helped heal a growing rift between the college and its Greensboro, N.C., community.
Looking forward, Cole, 70, says a lot can be done in a year. She already has a lengthy to-do list. One goal is to achieve the $50 million mark in the Revitalizing Bennett Campaign. Already, more than $30 million has been raised through corporate friends, alumni and other sources. One big boost, no doubt, will come this fall with a gala dinner hosted by Oprah Winfrey.
