Lake Michigan College President Trevor Kubatzke says he’s ready to retire after about 40 years in higher education.

LMC announced this week Kubatzke will retire, effective December 31 of 2026, leaving it plenty of time to search for his replacement.

Kubatzke tells us he’s worked at multiple colleges throughout the Midwest and chose Lake Michigan College back in 2017 because he wanted to be at an institution that’s impactful in its community. Reflecting on the past eight years or so, he says the achievements that he’s the most proud of involve meeting the needs of that community.

“The wine industry kicked off here, so we started a wine program more recently,” Kubatzke said. “There’s a huge need for police officers. So we resurrected our police Academy. We are on the lake. So we started a Marine technology program, truck driving. It’s probably the curricular things that are directly in response to our community needs that have been the most proud for me.”

Kubatzke says he has many good memories of the past eight years, but one thing that really stands out is the time former British Prime Minister David Cameron was a guest of the Economic Club of Southwest Michigan and chatted with students about the Brexit, which had just happened.

“And it was just fascinating to see our students interacting with a world leader on such a relevant topic. The questions they asked, the comments they had.”

Another fine memory is when Bill Nye the Science Guy visited.

Kubatzke says moving forward, like always, funding will be a challenge for LMC, noting two important millage renewals will be on the ballot in November. He’s going to help the Board of Trustees as its searches for the next college president and take part in the transition when that person is found. He says he’ll also continue to help the college, when needed, after retirement.

Kubatzke jokes that after a long career in higher education, maybe 40 years is enough time to spend in college.