Gadsden State 2022 Annual Report

Blake Lewis took the helm of the Gadsden State Athletics Department on June 1, 2022. In addition to being the athletic director, he will also serve as the head baseball coach. 

Lewis came to Gadsden State from Lawson State Community College in Birmingham, where he served two stints as the assistant baseball coach, the head coach and a physical education instructor. 

A graduate of Pleasant Grove High School, Lewis attended Bevill State Community College from 2001 to 2003, where he was named an All-Conference Player by the Alabama Community College Conference. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology in 2006 from the University of Montevallo and a Master of Physical Education in 2008 from the University of West Alabama, where he also served as a graduate assistant and helped the team earn a Gulf South Conference East divisional title. 

In 2009, he was hired as an assistant baseball coach at Lawson State and, within the year, he was named head coach, a position he held until 2012. During his first tenure at Lawson State, Lewis was named the Assistant Coach of the Year by the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association, became the all-time winningest head coach in Lawson State history and took his team to a 12th-place national ranking. 

In 2012, Lewis accepted the position of assistant baseball coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Montevallo, where he was instrumental in guiding the team to back-to-back 30-win seasons and two appearances in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship game. He returned to Lawson State in 2015 as the head baseball coach, where he was named ACCC Co-Coach of the Year and the team won Baseball Academic Team of the Year in 2020.

Dr. Janekia Mitchell is the new dean of Student Services. In her position, she provides leadership, strategic planning and executive oversight of student enrollment, retention and success for credit and non-credit programs. 

In 1998, Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science and Wellness from Jacksonville State University. She continued her education at JSU, where she earned a Master of Science in Community Agency Counseling and an Educational Specialist degree in Counselor Education in 2007. In 2017, she earned a doctorate in Professional Counseling and Supervision from the University of West Georgia. 

She has had a lot of experience working with young people beginning in 2000 when she served as a coordinator at Thirteenth Place, a facility that provided shelter to disadvantaged and at-risk youth. Two years later, Mitchell was hired at Gadsden State as an outreach advisor for Upward Bound, a federal TRIO program that provides fundamental support to high school students in their preparation for college entrance. 

In 2007, she was named the outreach advisor for Title III at Gadsden State’s Valley Street Campus, the area’s only campus to have the Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCU) designation. Title III programs enhance academic success through traditional methods, such as working with faculty advisors, conducting new student orientations and student assessments, facilitating workshops and purchasing equipment for academic program areas. 

A year later, Mitchell moved to the Counseling and Advising area of Student Services as an academic advisor. In 2016, she was named director of Residence Life at Gadsden State. 

In 2018, after 16 years at Gadsden State, Mitchell transitioned to K-12 education as the student counselor at Emma Sansom Middle School in the Gadsden City School System. She returned to Gadsden State as the dean of Student Services on June 21, 2022.

John Roberson was named Gadsden State’s director of Advancement and Alumni relations on June 21, 2022. In his position, he is responsible for the activities of the Gadsden State Cardinal Foundation and the Alumni Association. 

Roberson graduated from Southside High School in 2005 before going to Auburn University, where he earned a degree in public relations in 2010. He then moved to Atlanta to manage a grocery store and became very active in the Auburn Alumni Clubs of which he was elected president in 2014. 

During his time as the Metro Atlanta president, he spearheaded a number of fundraisers and events, including the Auburn Ambush, which provides opportunities for Auburn alumni and friends to meet coaches while raising scholarship funds. 

In 2018, Roberson moved to Mobile, where he was the owner/operator of a Frios franchise. Again, he became active with the Auburn Alumni Club’s Mobile area chapter and was elected president in 2019. He also served as a volunteer with Restore Mobile, a historic preservation organization. 

In 2020, Roberson returned to his alma mater to work towards a master’s degree in higher education administration and worked as an intern in the College of Education’s Development Office. He earned his master’s degree in May 2022.