For the first time since Gov. Tony Evers took office in 2019, all 10 appointees on the Wisconsin Technical College System Board are his nominees, as the last vacancy was filled Monday.
Leslie Svacina, of Deer Park in St. Croix County, will serve the remainder of a term created by a recent vacancy, which ends in 2027.
The last six-year term of former Gov. Scott Walker's appointees expired in May. But the farmer-designated seat on the board has been empty, as the former seat holder, Viroqua-area farmer Paul Buhr, resigned in January to serve on the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board.
Svacina, a meat goat and sheep farmer and former director of a state agricultural education organization, is the fifth person to be appointed to the technical college board in two months. In May, Evers nominated three new board members and reappointed another.
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Evers said in a statement that Svacina will bring her knowledge as both an educator and a business owner.
“Our technical college system plays a critically important role in our higher education system and in building the workforce we need to maintain our state’s economic momentum and growth, especially in our agricultural industries,” he said. "I look forward to continuing our work together to bolster the state’s agricultural industries and workforce and local economies.”
The technical college board has 13 members, including six public members and four others with specific qualifications — being an employer, an employee, a student or a farmer — as well as ex-officio members that include the president of the UW Board of Regents or a designee, the state superintendent of public instruction and the state Department of Workforce Development secretary.
The farmer term last expired in 2021, but Buhr could not take the seat as he remained unconfirmed by the state Senate and Walker appointee Becky Levzow stayed in the seat for an additional 20 months. The state Senate confirmed five Evers appointees in April who had been serving since 2021.
Svacina's appointment also will have to be confirmed by the state Senate.