She skipped every rung, then owned the title
Liz Cartier went from a restaurant kitchen to the dean's office, skipping every rung in between. A note she once journaled is what made her own it.
The road to the dean's office ran through a kitchen
Liz Cartier came up in the restaurant world. A line cook by training, she has done every job there is in a kitchen. She and her husband own a restaurant in the community where she has lived for twenty-two years. When the early years did not go the way they hoped, she went back for an MBA to understand the business better. Somewhere in that program, she fell back in love with business itself.
That led to a Ph.D. in management, and to teaching. She became a professor, taught at three institutions, and landed at Fort Lewis College, where she is now in her ninth year. Along the way she took on the kind of leadership most faculty avoid, the Senate Executive Committee and the faculty seat on the Board of Trustees, the strategic rooms.
Faculty to dean, with nothing in between
When the dean of eight years left, Liz was asked to step in as interim. She had never been a chair. She had never been an associate dean. She went straight from faculty to running the school, a leap very few people make.
She was not afraid of it. She had owned a business. She had been managing people from an early age. The high-level strategic work was her strength. She just had a few things to catch up on. Within a few months as interim, she fell in love with the role and knew she would apply. She got the job, and started as dean in March.
From the fire hose to ready
Her first year was a blur. As interim, in the thick of an AACSB review, it was a what-am-I-doing year. Drinking from a fire hose.
The second year feels different. The work is no longer brand new. She is calmer, more confident, and ready to make the big decisions instead of just surviving them.
A mentor, and a room full of people like her
Liz joined WIBE in 2024, looking for deans to learn from. She was paired with WIBE member Kathryn Birkeland, a fellow dean who became a real mentor. They would jump on a Zoom whenever something was pressing, a faculty complaint, a budget question, the strange shift from being a faculty member to being the leader. When Liz applied for the permanent role, Kathryn reviewed her whole application and gave her honest feedback.
Just as important was simply seeing people in the room who were like her. For someone who came to academia later in life, the imposter syndrome was real. Am I supposed to be here? Should I go back to the restaurant? Watching other leaders carry the same questions and the same challenges helped her lead with more steadiness.
She stopped calling it an accident
Liz keeps journals. She writes everything down. Going back through them recently, she found notes from her early WIBE rooms, quotes from deans on how they handled hard things. She had not even imagined yet that she would become a dean, let alone this fast.
One note stopped her. She had written down a line she heard in a session. Most new deans make an excuse for why they hold the job. I fell into it. It was given to me. I just stepped up as needed.
Liz realized she had been telling that exact story about herself. So the next time someone asked how she became dean, she answered differently.
What surprised her, and what she'd tell you
What surprised her most about the role was not the budgets or the politics.
Ask Liz what WIBE has been, and the answer is simple.
Her advice to the leader sitting where she sat a year ago, and the one thing she most wants people to know.
Your next chapter starts in the room
Every member story began with one decision to stop doing it alone. Yours can too.
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