The Lake Michigan College Board of Trustees has voted to name Dr. Ken Flowers as the next college president.
Flowers currently serves as executive vice president at Lake Michigan College, leading academic and student affairs. He has more than 28 years of experience in higher education, most of it at LMC. He tells us he’s honored to be selected at the college’s next leader.
“I’ve been at the college for 26 years here,” Flowers said. “I’m an alumni at the college, and so this place means a lot to me. I’ve been in this community my whole life, so building and growing and learning how to help get students in this community to the next level, I’m very proud to be able to lead that.”
Flowers says serving as a college president is all about community impact and student success.
“We want our local community to feel proud that we’re going to get the workforce that we need, and making sure that we have the pipeline for bringing, even helping community grow, helping businesses come in, knowing because they have a strong college, it’s going to help build the workforce.”
LMC Board Trustee and search committee chair John Grover told us as the search for a new college president continued, it became clear Flowers, an internal candidate, was the right fit.
“His longevity with the college,” Grover said. “Though some may see that as more of the same old, same old, he’s got a very dynamic vision for the college that we’re looking forward to have him implement.”
Flowers will replace the retiring Dr. Trevor Kubatzke, who tells us he’s both happy and sad to see Flowers appointed.
“Retirement is one of those things that you make the decision and it isn’t real until it’s real,” Kubatzke said. “So I’m happy because I’m happy for Ken. I know the college is in good hands when I leave here. It does now give us an opportunity to fill in the gaps for the rest of my tenure here. But this has been my home for ten years and it’s been my favorite college ever to work at.”
The LMC Board of Trustees will now enter into contract negotiations with Flowers.
Grover tells us they’re still working on the timeline and how to handle titles, but the board does want to give Kubatzke a chance to graduate his last class at the college in May. His tentative retirement date is December 31.