St. Margaret's School - Strategic Plan - River Program Makes a Splash

    When you prepare yourself, you can take advantage of opportunities as they arise,” says Elizabeth “Sissy” Crowther ’75, the new president of Rappahannock Community College.
     For Dr. Crowther, that preparation began at St. Margaret’s, where she was a four-year boarder from Reedville, Virginia.
     Influenced by teachers and coaches like Hannah Mallory Perkins ’40, Frances Gilchrist, Sue Moody White and Shannon Spears, she said, “I began as a shy, reserved girl, gained a lot of confidence, and was able to become a leader.”
     Her early experience with the power of a small, nurturing school guides her today as head of the only institution of higher education in Virginia’s mostly rural, 12-county Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula.
     A growing proportion of the college’s students are recent high school graduates planning to transfer to four-year colleges and universities.
     Dr. Crowther’s efforts, first as a member and co-chair of the Committee on Transfer of the State Council on Higher Education, then as RCC president, have led to agreements that guarantee qualified RCC graduates admission to six public and two private institutions.
     RCC also provides workforce training and retraining, and enrichment courses for the community. Most important, it offers educational credentials that open doors of economic opportunity for area residents who have been marginally employed or out of work.
     The potential to help others make positive, dramatic changes in their lives first attracted Dr. Crowther to the community college system.
     Working in a Richmond bank in the 1980’s to set up employee training courses, she witnessed the transformation that occurred when “people who never would have considered themselves college material” experienced success through the local community college.
     She also saw that, compared to the larger universitites where she had been a student or teacher, community colleges could respond quickly to people’s needs.
     Dr. Crowther left the world of finance and returned to graduate school for a degree in education. Next followed a series of increasingly responsible administrative positions in Virginia’s community college system.
     Just 10 years after earning her doctorate, she assumed RCC’s top job.
“I never had the specific goal of being a college president,” she said, although her thoughtful educational and career choices made it one of many options.
     Now Dr. Crowther’s days revolve around helping others expand their work and life choices. Since starting work at RCC on August 2, 2004, she has made her mark as a focused leader who can get others to share in the college’s vision.
     She and her team also have accomplished short-term strategic priorities that include marketing the college’s benefits to the region and increasing the number of four-year college transfer agreements.
    “I love the mission of community colleges,” she said. “Some of our students come here without family support, even with denigration. It’s a joy to help them embrace learning, and really striking to see what can happen because of the experience they can have at RCC."