Darren Ackley

Dr. Darren Ackley serves as the Provost and Vice President for Learning at Northcentral Technical College (NTC), a two-year technical college serving a largely rural district in central Wisconsin. In this role, he leads the college’s academic division with a focus on supporting faculty, advancing student success, and aligning programs with regional workforce needs. Darren has held a variety of academic leadership positions at NTC since 2008, including Associate Dean and Dean of Technical and Trades, and has been instrumental in launching innovative programs and building strong partnerships with K-12 districts, four-year institutions, and business leaders.

He is committed to expanding educational opportunities by increasing accessibility to programming, creating opportunities for incumbent worker training, and promoting early engagement for K-12 students exploring potential career pathways. Darren has also led efforts to build institutional capacity around Artificial Intelligence, supporting both internal operational efficiencies and external programming to meet emerging workforce demands.

He has served as Principal Investigator and grant manager on several large-scale workforce and STEM-focused initiatives, including a National Science Foundation STEM+C grant and U.S. Department of Labor projects focused on manufacturing and career pathways. Darren holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, an M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Edgewood College.