Dr. Carl Westbrook [Outstanding Leadership '15]

Dr. Carl Westbrook became the thirteenth President of Connor State College in 1978 and served until 1994. He was the first Connors’ president to come to the position with presidential experience at the community college level. 

Westbrook earned his bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State and his master’s degree at the University of Houston on the way to achieving his Ph.D.

After traveling, Westbrook, his wife Emily and their son Vincent, accepted a graduate assistantship with the Department of Agricultural Education at Oklahoma State University and he began his doctoral studies in agricultural education. With his residence requirements satisfied at OSU, he accepted the position of Director of New Mexico Vocational Technical School in El Reno. In 1968 he was hired by New Mexico State University to establish a branch campus in Grants, N.M. He served as head of this campus for four years before accepting a position as Dean of Students and Professor of Higher Education at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. One year later, in 1973, he was elected President of Lamar Community College in Colorado, where he remained for five years before moving to Oklahoma as the President of Connors State College.

During his tenure, Connors’ branch campus in Muskogee became a reality. Associate degree program offerings were increased, campus buildings were built or extensively remodeled, and intercollegiate sports programs were expanded to include women’s softball and men’s and women’s tennis. National basketball and livestock judging championships were achieved.

Westbrook was recently inducted into the Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges Hall of Fame.