Debbie Fowler

As Senior Vice President of Student Success, Debbie Fowler leads close to 2,500 employees to support students and colleagues with an array of services that drive student success across the student lifecycle.  The Student Success department includes five service lines:  Enrollment & Lifecycle Operations (led by Daren Upham), Evaluation Operations (led by Maureen O’Brien), Student Success Administration (led by Adam Cota), Office of the Registrar (led by Darin Hobbs) and Student Experience (led by Natalie Murray).  In addition to academic operations, Debbie and her team are accountable for cross-functional efforts like learner-centered faculty, admissions standards, student readiness and learner profiles, environmental barriers and social & emotional learning (SEL).  

Prior to joining WGU, Debbie worked in tax and labor law, specializing in employee benefits.  Her association with WGU began in 2005 when her sister (a mentor at that time) shared the opportunity to evaluate performance assessments in her spare time.  Attracted to WGU’s mission and community, Debbie joined WGU full-time in 2008 and has served many years building WGU’s unparalleled practice in competency assessment at scale.

Debbie holds a JD from the University of San Diego and bachelor's degree in Mathematical Science and Economics from Rice University.