O. Cleveland Hill, dean of the College of Education, and his college roommate always joked about how nothing could keep them in Louisiana. “He (Hill’s roommate) was going back to North Mississippi and I was going to go back to Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Hill said.
In his senior year at Nicholls, Hill met his wife, who was from Houma. “We got married, and we came back over here,” he said. “Never say what you will not do.”
Hill came to Nicholls on a basketball scholarship and became the first black athlete at Nicholls. When Hill graduated in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, he was the all time leading scorer at the University.
After graduation, Hill was unable to find a job. “I have always been an impatient person, and so I knew somebody that was hiring was the U.S. Army, but it was in the middle of the Vietnam War,” he said.
Many people told him, he was “nuts” for joining the military at war time because there was a chance of being sent to Vietnam. Hill told them he had to see for himself.
“I had the opportunity to play basketball for the military, and I had an opportunity to play a few games in the military for the state department,” he said. “We were able to go to the Middle East, Jordan, Greece, not only to play, but to put on some clinics for the state department.”
Part of the clinics was teaching children in Jordan how to play basketball. It was then, in 1975, that Hill’s military basketball coach told him that he should think about becoming a teacher. Hill responded by saying he did not want to ever become a teacher. His military basketball coach then pointed out that coaching was the same as teaching and after thinking about this, Hill realized that the coach was right.
“It looked like something I was very good at, coaching,” he said. “But coaching is teaching, and that is when I got released from military duty.”
In 1976, after getting his teaching certification at Nicholls, Hill’s first teaching job was at East Thibodaux Junior High School where he taught social studies. He then got the chance to come to Nicholls as an assistant men’s basketball coach.
Dr. Phil Bergeron, who was dean of the College of Education, offered Hill a position in the health and physical education department in 1985. “Looking down the road at, did I want to stay in athletics or did I want to go back into teaching, I saw this as an opportunity to get back into teaching,” Hill said.
Hill became dean of the College of Education in 1999. He has been at Nicholls for 25 years.
When Hill started coming to school at Nicholls, the University was only 20 years old. He described how the trees were just planted and small, but now the trees are enormous. “They (the trees) give you a sense of being a part of something that has grown, and it is hard to describe unless you have been in that situation,” Hill said.
“But from 20 years old to about 55 years old, you realize how much you have been associated with the growth. It is an awesome feeling.”
During his years at Nicholls, Hill faced some challenges. Although the University had been integrated, the athletic program had not been integrated.
“That was a transition time for everybody; it was difficult for everybody,” he said. “It was a challenge for me, probably the greatest challenge that I had to face, but fortunately at the time, I did not realize how great of a challenge it was.”
The challenges of any administrator are basically the same and a “juggling act,” Hill said. “When you are the supervisor of students and when you are the supervisor of people, you have always got to keep in mind the mission of Nicholls, this University,” he said. “What I also try to keep in mind is the goals and aspirations of individuals.”
Hill also considers the needs of the students in K-12 schools who will be taught by graduates from the College of Education. “That is our ultimate mission is to make sure that they are a success,” he said.
“Sometimes the challenge is trying to put their needs in the forefront of everything you do, but to also meet the need of our students here at Nicholls and our faculty.”
Hill does not credit only himself for any major accomplishments in the education department. “No administrator can accomplish anything unless the people that they supervise rally around what they are trying to do,” he said.
Hill said that the faculty members in the College of Education are the ones who should be “applauded” for working together to meet the challenges of accreditation. “It is not so much what I do; it is really attributed to what they do,” he added.
“We were able as a group to come together to do that, and so if that is an accomplishment to me, I will accept it,” he said. “But it really is an accomplishment for everybody.