Yolanda Page Announced As Eighth President Of Stillman College

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Savannah State University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Yolanda Page was announced Thursday as the eighth president of Stillman College.

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Page's tenure is set to begin July 1 as she succeeds Cynthia Warrick, who has served as Stillman's president since 2017 before announcing her retirement in the fall of 2022.

“I knew Stillman would be the right place to make the type of impact I’ve strived to make in my career and, ultimately, I’d like to continue to make as a president [at Stillman],” Page said. “That impact is grounded in student, faculty, and staff success and providing each of those groups with the tools and the access to resources that will allow them to grow and achieve what they feel are their missions in life.”

Stillman says Page has more than 30 years of higher education experience in a variety of faculty and leadership roles. She also served as vice president in the Division of Academic Affairs and professor of English at Dillard University prior to her time at Savannah State.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to lead Stillman College, and I thank the board of trustees for its confidence in me to lead this storied institution,” Page said.

Page has bachelor’s degrees in English and business management from Dillard University and both a master’s degree and doctor of philosophy in American and African American literature from Louisiana State University.

“The board of trustees is excited to appoint Dr. Page as the eighth president of Stillman College,” Stillman Board Chair Donald W. Comer said. “Dr. Page has rich experience, having served at multiple institutions demonstrating exceptional leadership, innovative academic programing, robust fundraising, and solid financial acumen. We are confident that she can not only sustain but accelerate the momentum that Stillman has experienced in recent years.”

Page’s accomplishments mentioned by Stillman include supervising the launch of new academic programs.

Indeed, over nine months at Savannah State, she supervised the creation of six certificate programs, and, at Dillard, led the development of the institution’s first master’s program.

Page has also spearheaded the development of the university’s first online degree program, which is a nationally recognized pre-law program, and Dillard’s Center for Racial Justice.

Over the course of her career, Page has secured approximately $40 million in funding to support curriculum redesign and faculty professional development.

These accolades, the Board of Trustees believed, made her the most qualified candidate to replace Warrick, which comes at a time when Stillman is benefitting greatly from recent grants to boost offerings across campus.

“Meeting the needs of the workforce is critical for the outcomes of our students and growing the institution for the future,” Page said. “We will continue to find new niches that will allow us to educate and serve traditional and non-traditional students, as well as our community to build a ‘communiversity’ and achieve a true town-and-gown relationship with the city of Tuscaloosa.”

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