Dr. Paul Carlsen, an Aspen Fellow, joined Lakeshore College as the institution’s 4th president in 2017.

Under Paul’s leadership, Lakeshore has consistently been recognized as one of the top two-year colleges in the nation – Washington Monthly ranked the college #2 in the nation, Forbes ranked the college #17 in the nation, the Aspen Institute named the college a top 150 two-year college in the nation four times, and the college won the 2024 Bellwether Award in Planning, Finance, and Governance. In 2024 Paul was invited to the White House to share how the Lakeshore has become a national leader in competency-based education (CBE).

Paul has prioritized finding new revenue sources to support the college’s mission - securing more than $32,000,000 in competitive grant awards since taking office (including the four largest competitive grant awards in the college’s 100+ year history and the college’s first four grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF)). In 2022, Paul cultivated a $1M donation to the college’s foundation, in 2024 Paul secured a $2.5M scholarship pledge, and he has more than doubled foundation assets since taking office.

Paul works diligently to ensure Lakeshore is part of the regional, state-wide, and national higher education dialogue. Paul was elected by his peers in 2024 to serve on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the national advocacy group of over 1,100 two-year colleges. Paul is the chair of AACC’s Commission on Rural and Small Colleges and serves on the Board’s committee for Community College Advancement. In 2023 he was elected by his Wisconsin peers to serve as the Chair for the Wisconsin Technical College System President’s Association as well as Chair of the Northeast Wisconsin Education Resource Alliance which represents all public institutions of higher education in Northeast Wisconsin. Paul previously provided testimony to the US House of Representatives Committee on Education. Paul is an active member of the Manitowoc Noon Rotary.

Before joining Lakeshore, Paul served in leadership roles at the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and was an adjunct instructor of political science at River Parishes Community College. Before working in higher education, Paul worked in statewide economic development in Louisiana in Governor Bobby Jindal’s administration and in South Carolina in Governor Nikki Haley’s administration.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado, a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Denver, and a Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Georgia.

Paul and his wife, Christina, are the proud parents of two young daughters. Paul’s family enjoys traveling, watching cartoons, sledding, and new adventures.