In 2003, Nicole Golden was a freshman in the Honors College. She was struggling to regularly attend classes, partly because she was taking her grandma to doctors appointments but sometimes, she simply didn’t want to go.
Golden relied on classmates’ notes to complete assignments and was not giving maximum effort.
“There was a wait list to get into the college and it was an opportunity,” Golden recalls. “And here I am not taking advantage of my opportunity by actually going to class.”
That nonchalant attitude did not jibe well with Alexandria Holloway, who was dean of the Honors College at the time.
Golden soon found herself in Holloway’s office for a meeting. The chat was sassy and stern.
“When I look back on it, even when I talk with other students, it was how [Holloway was],” Golden said. “It was tough love; she wanted to know what was more important than me coming to class.”
Tough love. Stern. High Standards. Motherly.
Those were words Holloway’s former students used to recount her more than 35 year career at Miami Dade College that included founding the Honors College in 2002.
Holloway passed away from breast cancer surrounded by her family on July 18. She was 79.
“So many across our College family credit their careers to her mentorship and encouragement,” Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega said in a statement. “She was, simply, one of MDC’s best.”
After Holloway’s death, Frederica Wilson filed a motion in Congress to have Holloway’s name entered into the Congressional Record and Library of Congress, according to former student Susana Montes. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava sent a representative to Holloway’s funeral in the Bethel Church of Miami to present a county proclamation that will be preserved in the county’s official records.
Early Life and Education
Holloway was born in April of 1947 in Jackson, Mississippi where she lived with her parents. Alfanette and Clifford and her sister, Yvette.
Her mom was a second-grade teacher and her dad a railroad worker. They had a deep appreciation for community and valued the importance of treating people with dignity.
They also had a passion for music serving as musicians at their church.
Alfanette nurtured Holloway’s interest in music by giving her piano lessons. And the women in her life served as role models toward achieving academic greatness.
“[Holloway’s aunts] were able to get college degrees and become nurses and teachers, all five of them,” said Holloway’s nephew, Creston Lynch. “That kind of influence at that time in the South certainly played a role in her knowing what was possible, but also knowing what was expected.”
As a teenager, Holloway gained a deep appreciation for social justice.
“She marched in civil rights demonstrations and was actually arrested for civil disobedience in Jackson, Mississippi, along with other classmates and cousins her age,” Lynch recalled.
Holloway earned a bachelor’s degree in 1968 from Jackson State University and a master’s in 1970 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign both in music education.
She embarked on her professional career in 1968 as a teacher at Garden Hills Elementary School in Champaign, Illinois, a position she held for five years. The following year she taught music and piano at her alma mater, JSU before returning to the Champaign public school system for two more years.
Career At Miami Dade College
In 1976 she took a job teaching music and piano courses at Kendall Campus, but she continued adding to her academic credentials, earning a doctorate in music education from Florida State University in 1984.
Holloway’s career continued to gain momentum. In 1985, she created a one-credit gospel choir course (MUN1931)—a first in the state—and the JUBA Gospel Ensemble.
That same year Holloway became the chair of the music department for six months until she was offered the position of associate dean for the division of arts and sciences. During that assignment, she supervised the construction of the Martin and Pat Fine Center for the Arts in building M.
Ten years later, Eduardo J. Padrón, who served as the College’s president from 1995 to 2019, reassigned her to Homestead Campus as the interim executive dean. She held that position for three years, before moving to Wolfson Campus as academic dean.
Holloway instantly fell in love with what she called the “Wolfson Culture.” In 2002, Padrón tasked her with starting the Honors College, a rigorous academic program that prepares students to study at some of the most prestigious universities in the country, such as Yale, Stanford, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Her job was always to pour into her students. That was what she did,” said Holloway’s goddaughter LaKisha Richardson Jones. “She had a very keen way of knowing exactly what you needed.”
Nine years after starting the Honors College, Holloway retired from MDC in 2011.
Student Testimonials
During her retirement party, Golden announced the creation of the Dr. Alexandria Holloway Golden Dream Scholarship Fund to assist Honors College students.
“All that she’s done for me and the students and the Honors College, we’re like her baby,” said Golden, a high school Innovation & STEAM Lab Facilitator at the American United School of Kuwait. “[The scholarship] was the way to keep it going for even the kids that come behind us.”
Golden was one of the hundreds of students Holloway shepherded toward their career ambitions.
Montes, who graduated from Stanford University after receiving a full ride scholarship, was another of those success stories. She has worked at Facebook, Microsoft, and People Magazine, and is currently the managing editor for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs in Philadelphia.
The two remained close long after Montes graduated from Wolfson Campus.
During a phone call during the pandemic, Holloway sensed that Montes was unsure of her future after temporarily leaving her career to be a full-time mom.
“‘Sometimes, your career’s gonna take the front seat. And it’ll be right by your side, and your family may take the back seat,” Montes, who is now 41, recalls Holloway telling her. “But other times, your family will take the front seat, and your career will take the back seat. And that’s the dance of life.’”
Holloway had a similar effect on Susana’s brother, Luis Anibal Montes. After graduating from Wolfson Campus in 2011 he transferred to Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He now works at Manulife Financial Confederation as the Vice President.
“Many of us think that we don’t deserve to be in the room,” said Luis, who is now 35. “And what [Holloway] taught me all the time was, show your competence every day and hold yourself to a high standard because you belong in the room.”
Life After MDC
After retirement Holloway founded the Miami AH Academic Consulting Group, coaching, advising and consulting K-12 and higher education students.
She served on the boards of the New World School of the Arts, the YMCA South Dade Family Center, the Concert Association of Florida, the Jubilate Chorale, and the National Black Music Caucus.
For Holloway “everyday was a project.” She never lost her love for music and reveled in playing board games, cards and top golf with her family.
“She was always committed to not only [people’s] short-term success, but their long-term success,” Lynch said. “And I think that’s evident by the fact that so many people have paid her tribute.”
Holloway is survived by her nephews, Camod Lynch Sr. in Memphis and Creston C. Lynch in Washington, her aunt Aretta Kelley Smith and “a host of cousins who are like siblings, god-children, family, and friends.”
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