INDIANAPOLIS — Former Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann will become the ninth president and first female leader of Ivy Tech Community College.
Trustees for the 32-campus institution that educates some 173,000 Hoosier students unanimously elected Ellspermann Wednesday following a nine-month, 100-candidate nationwide search for a successor to retiring President Thomas Snyder.
"She's got experience in higher education, she's got experience in the political arena, she's got experience in the private sector and it all comes together in that right mix, along with Sue's innate skill for thinking strategically," said Paula Hughes, Ivy Tech board chairwoman.
Ellspermann was enthusiastically applauded by Ivy Tech students, faculty and staff at the Indianapolis campus when she was introduced as the college's new president.
She's scheduled to officially begin work July 1. But Ellspermann said she's "chomping at the bit" to get started and plans to visit Ivy Tech campuses across the state throughout the month of June.
Region Ivy Tech campuses are located in East Chicago, Gary, Valparaiso and Michigan City. Courses also are taught in Crown Point, Portage and LaPorte.
In addition, many Northwest Indiana high school students participate in Ivy Tech dual credit programs to begin earning their college degrees before entering college and without paying university-level tuition.
Ellspermann said as president her focus will be on organizing Ivy Tech to promote student success and meet the workforce needs of Indiana's employers, who require an estimated 1 million new workers with post-secondary degrees or credentials in the years ahead.
"Ivy Tech Community College is Indiana's most important workforce development engine, it truly is," she said. "We have a lot of work to do if we're going to meet the needs here in Indiana."
She said her plans to get there include growing the college's full-time faculty to improve student counseling, "right-sizing" programs in accordance with employer demand and increasing the degree completion rate.
Currently, only 1 in 20 Ivy Tech students earn their associate degree in two years and just 1 in 4 finish in six.
Ellspermann, 56, is a native of Ferdinand, Ind. She holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering and previously was director of the University of Southern Indiana's Center for Applied Research.
She served one term in the Indiana House and in 2012 was elected lieutenant governor alongside Republican Gov. Mike Pence.
Ellspermann resigned in March, with Pence's blessing, in anticipation of becoming Ivy Tech's president.
Pence deemed her appointment "a win for education in Indiana."