Barbara W. Woodlee (born 1946) is an American college administrator. She was president of Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield, Maine, from 1984 to 2012, and since 2013 has served as chief academic officer of the Maine Community College System. She was the first woman president in both the state technical college and community college systems. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2015. Early life and education Barbara Warren was born in Fort Worth, Texas. In the 1950s she grew up in Southern California, where her father had an executive position with General Dynamics. After high school, she studied at Cazenovia College in Cazenovia, New York, receiving an associate degree in 1966. In the early 1970s she relocated to Maine and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1974. Later, in 1982, she completed a master's degree in adult education at the University of Southern Maine, and, in 1992, an Ed.D. in higher education administration from Vanderbilt University. Career In the early 1970s she worked for the Maine Department of Labor in Waterville tutoring adults in reading and career training. In 1976 she joined the staff at the six-year-old Kennebec Valley Vocational-Technical Institute in Waterville as director of adult education. At the time, the school enrolled 100 students. In 1983 she was named assistant director and academic dean of the college, and in 1984 succeeded Bernard King, founding director of the college, who died that year. Her starting salary as director (president) was $34,603. Woodlee oversaw the growth of the college both in course offerings and student body, which reached 3,300 in less than 30 years. She helped introduce courses in health care and other disciplines that would lead to higher-paying jobs for graduates. She also built relationships with other colleges to facilitate student transfers between two- and four-year institutions. The college was renamed Kennebec Valley Technical College in 1989 and Kennebec Valley Community College in 2003, when it joined the Maine Community College System. Woodlee was the first woman president in both the state technical college system and community college system. Although she planned to retire in the summer of 2010, she extended her tenure for another two years when two national searches failed to identify a suitable successor. Over the next two years, she oversaw several large projects, including a computer software conversion, building and renovation