Waukesha County Technical College’s interim president, Kaylen Betzig, has been appointed permanent president of the Pewaukee-based school, according to an announcement WCTC’s district board made on Wednesday.
Betzig has led the school in an interim capacity since the start of last August, having taken over for president Barbara Prindiville, Ph.D. following her retirement.
WCTC’s district board, which had been conducting a formal search for a new leader, made the decision to extend Betzig’s tenure at a board meeting held Tuesday night. During the board’s annual meeting on Jan. 10, members discussed her qualifications in closed session.
“Kaylen is the right leader at the right time for WCTC,” district board chairperson Pauline Jaske said in a statement. “She has 27 years of experience in every area of technical college operations and has overseen almost all functions of a technical college. Those functions include human resources, student services, instruction, information technology, facilities, strategic planning, grants, research, quality improvement and program evaluation.”
Betzig has ascended the ranks of WCTC since her start as vice president of administration services in 2008. In 2010, she was promoted to executive vice president of the technical college. She previously spent 19 years in leadership roles at Blackhawk Technical College.
Betzig holds a master’s degree in educational administration from UW-Madison and has made significant progress toward a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis at UW-Madison.
“I am honored by the district board’s decision and look forward to moving WCTC forward,” she said. “We’ve done some great things at the college in recent years, from starting our Dual Enrollment Academy to building a firing range and meeting our campaign goal for the Integrated Manufacturing Center.”
Betzig also said that as she moves forward in her presidential role, she wants WCTC to “deliver as the engine for economic growth in Waukesha County and beyond.”
WCTC’s district board has yet to establish the new president’s contract and compensation.
