EL DORADO — Butler Community College President Dr. Kim Krull has announced her plans to retire.
According to a news release, Krull made the announcement following the February meeting of the Board of Trustees. She will finish her contract, which runs through June 30, and has agreed to serve month to month until a replacement and transition plan are finalized.
“It has been the privilege of my career to serve as Butler’s president. I owe a huge thank you to Trustees Ted Dankert, Ted Albright, Ron Engelbrecht, Dr. Greg Joyce, Jim Howell, Candace Kunkel, Tom McKibban, Sara Hurd, and Jim Wilson for trusting in me in 2013,” said Krull.
Inducted as the fifth president of one of the state’s largest community colleges, Krull oversaw the successful completion of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) accreditation visit last year. The HLC’s findings last fall claimed the college’s operations to be outstanding and designated Butler as a highly mature institution; one of the highest functioning colleges related to teaching and student assessment.
The successful HLC report extended Butler’s designation as an “open pathway” institution, a privileged status among institutions. This provides Butler greater freedom to pursue improvement projects that meet current needs and aspirations.
During her tenure, Butler received recognition as a National AVID Mentor School, a National Security Agency Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cybersecurity, the 50th Adobe Creative Campus in the country and was repeatedly named as a military friendly institution. Butler was named an Aspen Top 150 institution, a 2022 Innovation of the Year recipient from the League for Innovation in the Community College, and received the ACT award for College Career and Readiness. In addition, the college received multiple Wichita Business Journal awards for Innovation, and Diversity and Inclusion.
A strong believer in the community college mission, Krull has played an active role in engaging legislators in Topeka advocating for community colleges to remain the most affordable access point to higher education in the country.
