The San Jacinto College board of trustees approved Laura Bettencourt as provost of the San Jacinto College North Campus.
Career history
Bettencourt, who will begin her role June 15, brings more than 20 years of executive leadership, most recently as senior associate vice chancellor for academic support at Lone Star College, according to a June 1 news release from the college.
At Lone Star College, Bettencourt led initiatives for credentials and grants alignment, focusing her more recent efforts on establishing a comprehensive framework and systematic process to support the development of high-quality micro-credentials for students.
Bettencourt also serves as grant manager for several system-level grants, such as Perkins and a Houston Endowment grant focused on accelerating the implementation of Texas House Bill 8, which replaces the end-of-year State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness with the "Student Success Tool.”
Bettencourt helped design and launch Lone Star College-Online, the system’s eighth campus, which enrolled nearly 3,645 students in its inaugural semester and was recognized as a Bellwether Award Finalist, according to the release.
Quote of note
“Dr. Bettencourt is a student-focused leader who brings a strong commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and community engagement. Her extensive experience in higher education, and her passion for supporting students and expanding access and opportunities for them, makes her an outstanding choice to lead our North Campus,” Alexander Okwonna, incoming deputy chancellor and college president, said in the release.
One more thing
Bettencourt holds a doctorate degree in higher education and organizational change from Benedictine University, a Master of Arts in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Marshall University, according to the release.
