By Brian Ruth
The Scene staff
Franklin Taylor brings a world of experience to his new job as Forest Park’s vice president of student affairs.
That includes a strong family upbringing in his native West Africa, three graduate degrees and nearly two decades of college administrative experience in the United States.
“There’s no substitute for working hard,” said Taylor, 52, who studied history and political science as an undergraduate.
Taylor replaced Thomas Walker, who left Forest Park in May to become president of Central Community College’s Grand Island campus in Nebraska.
The vice president is responsible for budget oversight, staff development, admissions, student activities and discipline.
“He is a fantastic find for our college,” said Brad Bankhead, vice chancellor of student affairs for St. Louis Community College.
Taylor was hired after 13 members of the STLCC Student Affairs Leadership Team brought five final candidates to campus for interviews and meetings.
“Dr. Taylor had the widest range of student affairs experience and displayed the greatest depth of knowledge about the profession,” Bankhead said. “The fact that he had very successful tenures at previous universities is among the number of things that separated him from the pack.”
For the past three years, Taylor worked as assistant dean of student affairs and enrollment management at University of Wisconsin–Marathon County.
Taylor’s family still is living out of state. Wife Gbemi is human resources manager for the YWCA of Central Wisconsin in Wausau. They have two daughters, Remi, 13, and Danielle, 9.
Taylor plans to focus on the multicultural makeup of Forest Park, but he feels the most crucial task is student enrollment and retention. He also would like to get more students involved in college activities.
“The more students are involved and connected to the campus, the more likely they are to succeed,” he said. “I’ve experienced this myself.”
Taylor grew up in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He speaks English, the official language of the country, and Creole, spoken by the Krio people in the Western District.
Taylor’s family was relatively high on the socio-economic ladder. They owned land, unlike most residents of the Freetown Peninsula on the Atlantic coast.
Taylor’s mother worked as a high-school administrator. His father was an executive with British American Tobacco Co. All four children started out teaching high school.
“Mother always told me, ‘Education is the key,’” Taylor said.
Taylor earned his bachelor’s degree at University of Sierra Leone; master’s degrees in public administration at University of North Florida in Jacksonville and education at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; and a doctorate in higher education from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
He worked five years as residence hall director at Whitewater and six years as coordinator for residence hall staff at Northern Arizona before heading to University of Wisconsin-Marathon County.
The latter is a two-year college with about 1,300 students.
“The goal is to make the two-year student experience no different than what a student can expect from a four-year school,” he said.
Bankhead said he knew this viewpoint would work well with STLCC’s long-term goals.
“We are instituting a comprehensive approach toward consistent quality in the delivery of student affairs services across our district,” he said. “Dr. Taylor is our primary lead at Forest Park. He is a long way away from being a Lone Ranger.”
Taylor said he misses his wife and daughters, who plan to move here, as well as Sierra Leone.
His favorite place, outside of New York City and London, is his hometown of Freetown. He likes food from the region, including peanut stew and coconut rice.
In his free time, Taylor coaches youth soccer. He likes to visit bookstores and watch political talk shows, particularly MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” Daughter Remi is a state champion in gymnastics, and Danielle is a dancer.
Forest Park Interim President Roderick Nunn said he believes Taylor can provide answers to tough questions faced by administrators, such as “What prevents us from making sure that every single student is treated with dignity and respect?”
“I think he will challenge our staff to bring a world-class experience to students,” Nunn said. “(He) has a good sense of what makes a quality experience.”
Reporter Carl Anderson contributed to this story.