Dr. Willie Thomas, Chief of Staff at Cleveland State Community College, believes in the power of relationships. People have helped him and his fam
Dr. Willie Thomas, Chief of Staff at Cleveland State Community College, believes in the power of relationships. People have helped him and his family throughout the years. He earned a college degree and more despite no formal education after the 5th grade. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chattanooga, Thomas’ father was a church pastor, and his mother worked at a medical office until she stayed home to raise Thomas, his older brother and two younger sisters. Thomas’ parents also took in foster children for a few years. At one time, there were eight foster children in their home.
When Thomas was in the 5th grade, his parents decided to homeschool the children. This was the last time he attended public school. Thomas said, “There were not as many resources for homeschool families at that time. My mother was the teacher, and my father taught Bible class in the morning and was the disciplinarian.”
When Thomas was 14 years old, his father suffered a massive stroke and was in the hospital for more than four months; his family did not have health insurance. His father’s church was small, but his family tried to keep it going by leading the services in place of his father. Church attendance diminished and expenses were cut, including the pastor’s salary. The family got behind on rent and vacated their home. Thomas said, “I remember sleeping on pews in the church basement. A church member worked at the Howard Johnson Inn and gave us a room. She paid the $23 a night out of her own pocket.”
During this difficult time, school stopped. Thomas' father would get out of the hospital for a few days, then he would have to go back. A family friend hired young Thomas and his brother for construction work so they were able to support the family with money for food and rent. At 17 years old, Thomas started working for Logan-Moore Construction in Chattanooga. He said, “This was a real job. I was contributing to the family, and saving $50 a week for college.” But, the gap in his education just got bigger.
Thomas got an ACT study book and realized that he couldn’t understand it. “The last thing I learned in math was multiplication, and I was good at it because of my music background. My dad was a musician; he taught us music theory. Mathematics and music theory have a correlation.” Every lunch break, Thomas worked on learning algebra. When he took the ACT, he got the lowest score possible. He was devastated.
Determined to go to college, Thomas quit his job and went to gym registration at Chattanooga State Community College. He said, “I thought that if I can just get past the front desk, someone will register me for classes. I tried going through the back door and talking my way in, but everyone said I couldn’t start college. I didn’t have a high school diploma or transcripts, no GED and the lowest possible ACT score.”
Thomas returned the first week of classes. He had $1000 saved for college, and he begged to take a class. Every day for a week, he was rejected until he met Antoinette Dobbs. Through tears, he promised to pass the GED before the end of the semester if she would let him take a class. Dobbs agreed to take him to the vice president of student services, Connie O’Neal. “She asked me how I was going to be successful starting a week late,” Thomas remembered. “I told her that I was determined, and I was committed.” O’Neal allowed Thomas to start college. He enrolled at Chattanooga State in the fall of 1997.
“It was like Christmas morning! I told my family, and we were all yelling and crying,” Thomas said. “I started with all remedial classes, but I was in college. It was tough making up that gap.” He took the GED in October and passed on his first attempt.
“People talk about my doctorate degree. I was more proud of that GED. I felt like I had accomplished the world,” Thomas said. He made the honor roll, received financial aid and became involved in student government and black student leadership.
In the spring of 2000, Thomas was graduating and wanted to transfer to Morehouse College because it was a historically black college. Even though he had work study jobs, he couldn’t afford the application fee. Three days before the deadline, a church deacon wrote him a check for the $50 application fee.
Thomas was excited to get the acceptance letter from Morehouse College, until he saw the fine print which stated tuition was $20,000 a year. A security guard at Chattanooga State, called Chief, was a friend to Thomas. Unknown to Thomas, Chief was also friends with the former president of Morehouse College, Dr. Leroy Keith, Jr. Thomas met Dr. Keith, his wife and Chief for breakfast at Shoney’s on Broad Street. Thomas said, “I was so nervous. Dr. Keith said that he would make a call and see what he could do for me. The next week I got a letter saying I had been granted a full academic scholarship to Morehouse College. Morehouse never gave those to transfer students.”
From there, Thomas graduated in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in music. O’Neal at Chattanooga State hired him in the financial aid office where he advanced to Financial Aid Counselor, Assistant Director of Financial Aid and then Director of Student Affairs & Conduct before working at Cleveland State.
Thomas received his master’s degree from Kennesaw State University in 2009 and earned his doctorate in education from East Tennessee State University in 2021. He is married with three sons, ages 25, 15 and 2.
Thomas’ father passed away in 2017. His mother went back to school and will complete her bachelor’s degree this year. His brother is a church pastor, and his sisters are working on their doctorate and master’s degrees.
Thomas said, “I can’t take the credit; it was really by the grace of God. I could easily have been a statistic. That’s why I am very intentional to never judge someone on where they are today. You have to teach and cultivate the potential that they have. I can’t say that I always did it right and haven’t made mistakes. But at the end of the day, I want to do it right.”
For more information on Cleveland State Community College, visit the website at clevelandstatecc.edu or email clscc_info@clevelandstatecc.edu. If you are interested in applying, visit mycs.cc/applynow. Students are currently enrolled online and on-campus through the CSCC main campus in Cleveland, Tennessee, as well as CSCC’s McMinn Higher Education Center in Athens, Tennessee and the Monroe County Center in Vonore, Tennessee.
CSCC earned the Tennessee Board of Regent’s 2019 College of The Year. CSCC directly serves Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, and Polk Counties in Tennessee. The College System of Tennessee is the state’s largest public higher education system, with 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus serving more than 140,000 students.
