Sinclair Community College launched a search for their new dean and provost; this resulted in the college finding someone who could fill both roles for the school. The news spread across the campus, even being reported by the Dayton Daily News.
Before working at Sinclair, Anthony M. Ponder, Ed.D. had no idea he would be working as a teacher for a college.
‘‘I was originally planning to be a high school math teacher and didn’t know I would be a community college teacher,” said Ponder. “I was at a student recruitment fair and I met someone who was looking for teachers at Sinclair. At the time, I met a good friend who had been running a program that helps underrepresented populations become teachers at Sinclair. I joined and the rest is history.”
Ponder said he is grateful and honored to be where he is now.
”I worked at Sinclair in the math department in 1991,” he said. “I have a great history of being at Sinclair, and now I have this opportunity to be provost at Sinclair. I’m just honored and privileged.”
According to Ponder, Sinclair is special due to the hard work of the staff that serves the Dayton community.
‘‘What makes Sinclair special is the people that work at Sinclair,” he said. “We are all grateful to serve the Dayton community. All the staff is committed to helping the people here reach their goals. As the provost, I have the opportunity to help those people, and that is what makes Sinclair so special.”
Ponder stated that in his 34-year-old career, he enjoyed teaching students to embrace math and engineering as he did.
‘‘I enjoy my time as faculty and I love helping teach students to love mathematics,” he said. “I teach students mathematics and how to solve problems and as dean, I get to look over our math and engineering programs which change lives. Sinclair has good programs and as chair to the dean, I get to see how these programs work and have more appreciation of these programs.”
Ponder has a lot of love for math and engineering which eventually drove him to Sinclair.
‘‘As dean of the math and engineering division, there’s a wide variety of programs that help our students,” he said. “My father was an automotive mechanic and my mother was an elementary school teacher, so I would say my passion comes from them.”
Ponder says he will continue to work for Sinclair long as he can and wants to continue assisting students and coworkers.
‘‘I will continue to work as long as President Johnson allows me to,” he said. “I’m in my 34-year-old career at Sinclair where I enjoy working with students. Many people think a dean or provost doesn’t help much, but I’m able to help other students and faculty.”
Ponder is committed to providing higher quality education.
‘’I’m always striving to provide students with success and when I see Sinclair, we have always been thriving to help students in need,” he said. “We will always be creating programs to provide students with greater opportunities in education.”
Ponder says he wants to further invest in the school’s educational goals and is hopeful of more opportunities for students to take advantage of.
‘‘My goal is to continue to grow and advance Sinclair’s teaching priorities,” he said. “I hope the college continues to increase the number of opportunities for students.”
Ponder said that when the positions opened for provost and dean, he took the opportunity.
‘‘I think my experience is like many faculty at Sinclair,” he said. “When I came to Sinclair, I wanted to teach. From 2006 to 2007, I became the chair, and I always wanted to teach.”
Ponder explains that provost and dean are two distinct titles.
‘’Sinclair is a large comprehensive community college,” he said. “The provost oversees all the departments like academic advising, for example. I was one of five deans such as dean of science, dean of liberal arts.”
To further explain it, Ponder says the provost is the chief academic officer and is second to the president of Sinclair, while each dean runs their respective department.
Jamario Brown-Tolliver
Intern