Paul Carlsen, an Aspen Fellow, became the 4th president of Lakeshore College in 2017.

Under his leadership, Lakeshore has been consistently recognized among the top two-year colleges in the nation – ranked #2 nationally by Washington Monthly, #17 by Forbes, named a Top 150 community college four times by the Aspen Institute, and awarded the 2024 Bellwether Award in Planning, Finance, and Governance. In 2024, Paul was invited to the White House to share how Lakeshore has become a national leader in competency-based education.

A priority of Paul’s presidency has been expanding and diversifying revenue to advance the college’s mission. Since taking office, he has secured more than $34 million in competitive grant funding, including the four largest awards in the college’s history and its first four National Science Foundation grants. He cultivated a $1 million donation to the college foundation in 2022, secured a $2.5 million scholarship pledge in 2024, and has more than doubled foundation assets during his tenure.

Paul is deeply engaged in regional, state, and national higher education leadership. In 2024, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), representing more than 1,100 two-year colleges. He chairs AACC’s Commission on Rural and Small Colleges and serves on the Board’s Committee on Community College Advancement. In Wisconsin, he was elected Chair of the Wisconsin Technical College System Presidents Association and Chair of the Northeast Wisconsin Education Resource Alliance, representing all public higher education institutions in the region. He has provided testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Education, serves on the executive committee of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation, and is an active member of the Manitowoc Noon Rotary.

Before joining Lakeshore, Paul held leadership roles in Louisiana’s Community and Technical Colleges, where he was appointed by Governor Edwards to the Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board and taught political science as an adjunct instructor at River Parishes Community College. Earlier in his career, he worked in statewide economic development in Louisiana under Governor Bobby Jindal and in South Carolina under Governor Nikki Haley.

Paul is a graduate of the University of Colorado (BA), University of Denver (MPP), and the University of Georgia (PhD).

Paul and his wife, Christina, are the proud parents of two young daughters. As a family, they enjoy traveling, soccer, volleyball, and new adventures.