Leadership

I commend you for choosing to attend college, and we are glad you are here with us. When you enroll at ECTC, you will be part of a college that enjoys full accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Your classes here will prepare you for your chosen career or for transfer to another university. You may register for classes at any campus with complete confidence that your courses will help you achieve your goals.

When you enroll at ECTC you will belong to a community of faculty and staff who are completely committed to your success. In fact, we are only successful when you are successful. That does not mean that everything will be easy or that you will get all the grades that you want. It does mean that we will work with you to help you succeed.

We strive to be relevant and excellent in our efforts to support your education. We are not only the most affordable and accessible institution in higher education, but we are also the most capable. Our faculty are not only credentialed at the highest levels, but are available and willing to assist you. Their top priority is not research and publications; it is your education.

Furthermore, I want you to know that Elizabethtown Community and Technical College is dedicated to serving our communities and economic region. We are focused on improving education and being a key player in the economic development of Central Kentucky. As such, your success is more than just yours or ours alone. Your success is our region s success!

Thank you for choosing our college. The work we do together will not be easy, but I promise it will be worthwhile. And in the end, we will be relevant and excellent together!

All the best,

Juston C. Pate, Ph.D.
President / CEO
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College
juston.pate@kctcs.edu

Dr. Juston Pate has enjoyed a 25-year career in education, with more than 20 of those years being in the community college environment. Since 2017, Dr. Pate has been the President and CEO of Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, where he has been involved in community and economic development, and has seen ECTC's student success metrics grow across all categories, including a steady increase in graduation rates from 31% when he arrived to over 59% in 2025. Dr. Pate attributes much of the college’s success to the quality of the leadership in his executive cabinet and more importantly to the quality of the teammates with whom he works throughout the college and community. Together, they have undertaken such changes as moving to an eight-week schedule, partnering to build a residential complex for student parents struggling with housing insecurity, developing the college’s foundation, establishing the ECTC Robbins University Center, initiating the Student Success Hub for academic and non-academic barriers, and acquiring over $100 million for capital improvement projects. Dr. Pate’s work in higher education and commitment to the community and commonwealth have earned extensive recognition and service opportunities including Union Commonwealth University 50 Under 50; the Shirley B. Gordon Award, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society’s most prestigious award for community college presidents; the 2021 Award for Entrepreneuring Excellence by Higher Education Innovation, LLC; and an appointment to the Kentucky Board of Education. Dr. Pate's current priorities include developing a stronger comprehensive advising plan, further reducing non-academic barriers to student success, expanding academic programming, and establishing endowment funds for student emergency needs.