Despite all her professional success, President Dr. Beth Borgen is more than just our president. Borgen has deep ties to Lakeland as an alum and formal faculty member. Her family is rooted on campus and finds enjoyment in being surrounded by students doing what they love.
Pre-President Lakeland journey
Borgen’s first experience with Lakeland was as the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations. She noted, “I had no idea what I wanted to do,” but knew that she enjoyed working with people and planning events. In her alumni relations role, she planned homecoming, the annual golf outing and prepared for Lakeland’s 150 anniversary, particularly focusing on alumni engagement.
Becoming president of Lakeland University was nothing she planned to do. In fact, Borgen mentioned that when the search for a new president began, her mentor encouraged her to consider the opportunity. She knew that if she was serious about taking up this opportunity, she had to go back to school. In 2018, Borgen started her doctorate of business administration at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and remarked, “it was one of the most difficult things, but incredibly meaningful.”
Within her doctoral program, Borgen’s work and studies focused on first generation student success, aligning her work with her research. When the national search was opened, she competed for the position. In hindsight, she acknowledged that if she had not gotten the position, it would’ve been awkward, but it was a risk that was worth it.
Life as a President
In her role as president, she advocates for our campus within the Board of Trustees and recognizes that Lakeland is blessed to have a strong board who cares about our mission and students. The Board of Trustees understands that it’s a challenging time for higher education and supports Lakeland in unique ways regarding this challenge. Over the last five years, the board has recruited members who bring fresh perspectives and ideas. Borgen notes that it is important to have support of your board, and she is confident that we have that at Lakeland University.
Outside of her roles on campus, Borgen is highly involved in a number of community organization boards but acknowledges that she is involved in probably too many. This list of involvement includes Big Brothers, Big Sisters, RCS Empowers, St. Nicholas Hospital, Sheboygan County Chamber and Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation. Borgen said, “finding an organization that I can provide my expertise” is important. It is also important to be involved in organizations that have a mission that aligns with Lakeland to make giving her expertise possible. While she is involved in a mix of organizations, they all have ways that her presence and partnership are strengthened through her membership. In particular, she likes to listen and understand where organizations are running into challenges and wants to have help from our students and community to assist in breaking these boundaries.
Uniquely living on campus
Living on campus is a unique opportunity for herself and her family. Borgen says, “I love the ability to stop over at everything to see students do what they love to do” including the fact that she “can go to a football game and still do laundry at halftime.” Living on the campus of her work does come with the challenge of balancing home and work, but she tries hard to make space for her family. Whenever she can, she brings her husband and kids to events on campus but understands that there needs to be some sort of separation.
Borgen realizes that her kids miss their friends and their neighborhood where they grew up but have an amazing opportunity growing up on a college campus that most kids don’t have. She added that their dogs, Charlie and Peanut, love students! Her youngest, Oliver, loves the outdoors and mentions that he is outside a lot, fishing on campus and golfing in the backyard. Oliver likes to go over to the gym to practice and go to the fitness center, taking advantage of all the amenities that campus offers.
When the Borgen family moved to campus, Oliver was 8, and he has been able to make connections with lots of students. Her oldest two, on the other hand, Sydney and Stella, are a couple years older than Oliver, and she finds they are a little shy compared to their younger brother. The girls enjoy watching sports on campus and bringing their high school friends to their unique living area, as well as shopping at the new Muskie Market.
Separating family and work
Living on campus makes it hard to get away from campus, but their getaway is their cabin in Eagle River, a place her and her husband have visited since they have been together. Their kids have grown up going there every summer for vacation. Now that they have their own cabin, they go up almost every weekend they can in the summer. The cabin is their happy place where they can swim and fish; it is far enough away to feel relaxed.
Like her son, Borgen likes to enjoy the outdoors on campus, frequently walking with her younger daughter, Stella. She says, “Stella and I walk together each day after work when weather is nice as a way for us to connect one on one,” noting that Stella recently turned 17. She also loves that she doesn’t have to commute to work now; her husband has turned into the commuter. She finds it is also easier to be more engaged by living here. While she used to drive 40 minutes to work every day, she can pop in and out of things on campus.
She highlighted that she is very proud of her husband and the work that he does. As a Captain with the Fond Du Lac Sheriff Department, he also has a stressful career and consistently wants to help people.
She encourages people to follow her dogs, Charlie and Peanut, on their Instagram account @charlie.and.peanut, which is run by her daughters!