Dr. Michael B. McCall served as the founding president of KCTCS for 16 years and retired in January 2015, when he then was named president emeritus. In that role, he will serve as a resource to system and college leadership and will be involved in KCTCS initiatives and programs focused on leadership development and mentoring.

Since his appointment in December 1998, Dr. McCall achieved many successes, such as:

Merging the 28 community and technical colleges into 16 individually accredited comprehensive community colleges that serve over 92,000 students in credit programs.

Since 1998, the KCTCS Board of Regents has ratified or approved more than 700 credit program options that result in certificates, diplomas or associate degrees. Between 2000 and 2012, KCTCS tripled the number of associated degrees awarded and increased the number of certificates tenfold.

Under Dr. McCall’s leadership, KCTCS has become the largest provider of post-secondary education in the Commonwealth of Kentucky representing nearly half of all undergraduate college students. Under

Dr. McCall, enrollment grew nearly 79 percent.

Dr. McCall worked with the General Assembly to champion revolutionary transfer legislation, which has eased the process for KCTCS students transferring to the state’s four-year public institutions. This legislation has become a national model.

KCTCS is the largest provider of workforce training in Kentucky serving just more than 5,500 businesses and training nearly 50,000 employees annually.

KCTCS is the state’s largest provider of online learning, offering more than 77 online credentials.

To meet the unmet need of pursuing higher education in an online, anywhere, any place and anytime environment, KCTCS launched Dr. McCall’s virtual learning initiative entitled KCTCS Online that is completely learner-centered and will allow adults to pursue higher education 24/7, 365 days a year.

Other KCTCS accomplishments include the North American Racing Academy (first college-affiliated horse racing academy in the United States), Kentucky Coal Academy, Kentucky Fire Commission, and the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services.

Prior to his appointment as the founding president of KCTCS, Dr. McCall served as President of South Carolina’s comprehensive technical college system and provided leadership for South Carolina’s economic development training programs.

Earlier in his career, Dr. McCall served as president of Florence Darlington Technical College in Florence, SC, and as president of Paul D. Camp Community College in Franklin, Va. Dr. McCall was also a dean and a faculty member at community and technical colleges in Virginia.