Dr. Juston Pate

DR. JUSTON C. PATE

President and CEO, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College

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.