Chris Wikstrom serves as the Vice President of Academic & Student Success Services at Patrick & Henry Community College and has spent 23 years in education. With a decade in K-12 schools as a middle and high school math teacher, Chris gained critical experience working with students from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures. During his final years in K-12, he was given the opportunity to teach dual enrollment classes which started his community college work and opened the door to teaching adjunct developmental math courses.

He transitioned to full-time employment at P&HCC in 2011 as a developmental and on-level math instructor. During this time, Chris was able to center his teaching around cooperative learning and the flipped classroom. He was also able to serve as a consultant for the Southern Center for Active Learning Excellence, which provided collaborative learning workshops to community colleges across the United States. Chris also presented at two national conferences on cooperative learning and corequisite remediation during this span.

In 2015, he was given the opportunity to lead outcomes assessment and co-chair the SACSCOC decennial accreditation process at P&HCC. Through this work, Chris transitioned from mathematics faculty to the Director of Institutional Research & Effectiveness in 2016, while also serving as Interim Dean of Transfer for the 2021-2022 academic year. In addition to his current role as Vice President, Chris also consults with community colleges across the nation, focusing on rural colleges, data informed cultures, and program alignment done through labor market analyses.

Chris earned a B.S. in Mathematics (’02) and an M.Ed. in Education, Curriculum, and Instruction with a focus in Educational Psychology (’07) from Virginia Tech, as well as a Ph.D. in Community College Leadership from Old Dominion University (’18). He resides in Stuart, VA with his wife, Amanda, and four children.