New SKYCTC president talks priorities, motivation
Published 12:09 pm Tuesday, June 17, 2025
By DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com
Michelle Trawick, the new president of Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, remembers when a mentor had overhauled Western Kentucky University’s Gordon Ford College of Business.
Then-dean Jeff Katz led the charge — and across five years of his seeking out employers’ needs, incorporating coaching about internships, and spreading his passion for such experiences at the college — Trawick saw the college’s undergraduate culture, traditions and expectations of students change.
“I saw that leadership matters, and that good leaders can create even more opportunities in higher education, and bad leaders can just destroy it,” said Michelle Trawick, whom SKyCTC announced for its new head role earlier this month.
“I became passionate about becoming one of those leaders.”
Assessing higher-ed pressures
Top among Trawick’s goals as president are assessing how SKyCTC is addressing the value proposition of higher education and shifting student demographics — pressures that, she noted, are widespread among higher education institutions.
Many, she said, wonder if school is still needed when potential students can earn certificates elsewhere. To that, Trawick said, she would argue that the personalized, hands-on learning at SkyCTC — particularly given its affordability compared to other institutions — adds value above and beyond certificates elsewhere.
“… We need to make sure we’re telling the right story, telling it well, and I think they’re doing a pretty great job,” she said.
“SKy has a great story to tell because of the variety of programs and their existing relationships and partnerships with the community.”
Trawick said it’s very important that she strengthen those relationships and add others so SKyCTC can continue providing real-world solutions through higher education.
“You’re helping people find jobs, change their lives, change generations, and at the same time, really impacting the economy,” she said.
Concerning demographic shifts, Trawick pointed to population changes and what it could mean for programming and program composition. This, she said, entails ensuring programs are attractive to high school graduates — while making sure the college meets the needs of other demographics.
“… if employers need workers, are you making sure you have programming that meets the needs of non-traditional learners — people who are in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s who maybe need to retrain or reskill for some of the opportunities that are out there now that they weren’t paying for when they first entered the labor market?”
Retention and access, she added, are two key issues that all institutions are addressing. To that, she pointed to making sure students get needed support.
“Traditional college-age kids who might be coming out of high school, are they prepared in terms of the study skills they need to be successful?” she said.
It also means asking if they have the resources needed to succeed in programs — resources, she said, referring to wraparound services, student success initiatives and retention initiatives.
“So that, once they start, we need to make sure they finish,” she said. “We’ve got to meet them where they are, part of that’s being flexible with how we deliver programs
… .” She added that it’s especially important to do so given that most SKyCTC students are working.
“So, how do you make sure that they can work a full-time job and get the education they need?” Trawick said.
Trawick said she believes SKyCTC has done a great job in these and other areas. Still, she added, because no place is perfect, she expects to find areas the college can do better.
Pursuing these areas, she said, will entail learning much more as she settles into the role, getting to know the ins and outs of programs and the people in areas she lacks experience in as a professional. Trawick added that she needs to learn about the employers that hire those skills as well as their needs.
“It’s clear SKy has a talented team of professionals teaching and leading in those programs, but it’s important for me as president to be able to speak intelligently and be able to be the voice in the community that ensures that their story gets told,” she said.
“I’ve got to learn about their story more.”
Long-term, Trawick said, there are plans to meet projected growth in population for the region and the commercial growth needed to maintain the standard of living in the region.
There’s a need for workforce, she said — which SKyCTC is a primary outlet for. And meeting that need will entail working with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and figure out solutions.
Doing so also means being ahead of the game, she said — looking at a paradigm shift in changing technology, particularly in generative artificial intelligence.
“I think as a community and technical college, we need to do a lot of self reflection on that space, and that’s going to require some pretty heavy integration with the community, the employer partners and what they are feeling in their world — because that’s what we need to be on top of.”
Higher Education
Inspired by Katz, the WKU dean emeritus, Trawick had gone for a leadership opportunity at WKU that didn’t pan out. Trawick said that when she applied to her most recent employer, University of Nebraska Omaha, she had told them: “I’ll tell you right now, if something comes open back home, I’m going to apply for it.”
When the SkyCTC role opened up, Trawick — then a UNO distinguished professor of economics — couldn’t resist, she said.
“I have been watching for an opportunity to get back close to home — but this is the ultimate,” said the Logan County native.
And — with her son in Nashville and father in Bowling Green, to boot — it’s like the stars have aligned, she said.
“It was a chance to do what I love, which is create learning opportunities for students — impact the community — and I got to do it in a community that I’ve loved my whole life,” she said.
