Morna Foy, longtime president of the Wisconsin Technical College System, plans to retire later this year

Morna Foy, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System for more than a decade and its first female president, on Tuesday announced her plans to retire.

Foy will leave a role overseeing Wisconsin's 16 publicly funded technical colleges that currently receive more than $625 million in annual state funding. Those schools educated nearly 288,000 students last year, more than 50% more students than the University of Wisconsin system.

Foy, 61, has not given a hard deadline for her retirement date. That will depend on the timing of the presidential search process, according to a statement from WTCS spokesperson Katy Pettersen. Chair of the board overseeing WTCS, Mark Tyler, plans to pull together a search committee later in March.

Technical colleges in Wisconsin are unique compared to other types of higher education institutions: State law outlines their mission to create not just degree programs, but to offer academics that allow the public to "acquire the occupational skills training necessary for full participation in the work force." It's one reason why the technical colleges offer two-year degrees as well as adult education classes and technical training programs for specific industries.

In keeping with national trends, WTCS schools have seen declines in enrollment over the past several decades. Data show headcount enrollment, or the number of individual students enrolled no matter their credit load, has fallen by more than a third — about 36% — since fall 1992. The number of full-time equivalent students in the same timeframe has also fallen, but less drastically, and only since the 2010s. 

Those figures fit with national trends: Between 2010 and 2017, enrollment at community college nationally fell by 14%, or about 1 million students, according to an analysis by the American Association of Community Colleges.

Foy has been with the WTCS in various roles since 1998 when she began as a policy adviser. In 2004, she was named special assistant to the interim president, and later that same year, vice president of policy and government relations.

“It’s been my honor and an absolute blast to lead such an amazing organization,” Foy said in a prepared statement via email on March 5. “I want to thank the WTCS Board for their trust and support. I’ve had the chance to work with so many talented educators, state and local policymakers, and workforce development partners to realize the technical colleges’ promise of excellence for students, employers, and communities across Wisconsin. I am confident that my WTCS colleagues will continue this tradition of innovation for years to come."

Cleo Krejci covers higher education, vocational training and retraining as a Report For America corps member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. Support her work with a tax-deductible donation at bit.ly/RFADonation.