Career Center

Applications and nominations are invited for the position of Vice Provost for Public Engagement (VPPE), University of Minnesota. As the senior engagement officer for the University of Minnesota system, the VPPE leads the institutionalization of public engagement across five campuses and manages the systemwide Office for Public Engagement.

The VPPE reports to the Executive Vice President and Provost, works with the members of the Provost's cabinet, Chancellors of the Greater Minnesota campuses, Vice Presidents, college Deans, faculty, and staff to create public engagement opportunities and programs that are integral to the University's academic agenda.

The University of Minnesota, with its five campuses, ranks among the most prestigious public research universities in the United States and gives high priority to serving and advancing the public good through the research, teaching, and outreach activities of its faculty, staff, and students. It is a comprehensive state and land-grant institution, with a strong tradition of education, research, and outreach by its scholars of national and international reputation.

At the University of Minnesota, public engagement is the partnership of university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good. The University hosts a directory of more than 400 community-engaged scholars from across the colleges and campuses that have made community and public engagement a centerpiece of their scholarly work. The University of Minnesota was one of the first institutions to revise its faculty promotion and tenure guidelines to support scholars who achieve broader public impact through their research, teaching, and outreach scholarly work. 

All colleges and campuses of the University incorporate community-engaged learning pedagogies that span the undergraduate, graduate, and professional curricula. The distinctive Greater Minnesota campuses at Crookston, Duluth, Morris, and Rochester, host a wide range of community engagement efforts, including dedicated public engagement units and staff. The Twin Cities campus has an enrollment of over 50,000 undergraduate students with approximately half of all undergraduate students engaged in some type of academically connected community engagement experience during their time at the University.

The University possesses an exceptionally broad array of resources to address pressing societal issues that often require community-partnered, interdisciplinary approaches. The VPPE provides leadership to advancing public engagement at the University in several areas, supported by University resources and structures to facilitate these initiatives. 

Reporting Units:

• Office for Public Engagement
• Center for Community-Engaged Learning
• Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC)
• Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA)

Key areas of systemwide leadership include:

• Advance a coherent systemwide vision and strategy for public engagement that draw upon the unique excellence and community-engaged scholarly expertise of faculty and staff;
• Apply best practices from the literature on university public engagement to further the institutionalization of public engagement within academic and academic support units across the five campuses;
• Build and sustain structures that support faculty advancement for community-engaged scholars;
• Understand and connect diversity, equity, and inclusion work to that of public engagement;
• Work with the directors of engagement-focused units, deans, faculty, and academic departments to incorporate additional public engagement dimensions into disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching, research, and outreach initiatives;
• Collaborate with campuses and colleges to support public engagement components of their academic programs, assist in making connections with appropriate resources, and provide leadership for major cross-cutting initiatives;
• Support and advance community-engaged learning opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students;
• Envision and facilitate opportunities for large-scale, interdisciplinary University -community initiatives that strategically leverage university resources to build a more sustainable, equitable, and vibrant state;
• With other units, seek to align the various public engagement agendas at the University;
• Chair the systemwide Public Engagement Council, addressing University policies needed to advance public engagement efforts, and work with the appropriate University governance structures to address policy changes;
• Assist in securing internal and external resources to support public engagement efforts;
• Manage and supervise office staff;
• Manage fiscal operations. Set budget priorities, approve budget expenditures, explore revenue generation opportunities;
• Secure achievement of University's systemwide strategic plan goals (MPact 2025) pertaining to public engagement;
• Coordinate the use of public engagement as a potential advocacy tool with the University’s Government and Community Relations unit;
• Establish and process assessments and evaluations;
• Engage with national and international networks; and
• Promote and enhance the efforts of public engagement as a way to fulfill the University of Minnesota system's public, land-grant mission.

Appointment: The Vice Provost for Public Engagement is a full-time, renewable, 12-month senior academic administrative position. A secondary faculty appointment that may also include consideration of tenure is contingent upon prior professional accomplishments.

Salary: Competitive and commensurate with education and experience. 

Search website: https://engagement.umn.edu/about/national-search-senior-engagement-officer

The successful candidate will be a national leader in the field of university-community engagement with a record of working successfully in a variety of settings and with people from a range of disciplines within and beyond his/her/their own institution or organization. The VPPE will have a broad knowledge of higher education and understanding of contemporary approaches to public engagement, engaged scholarship, and community-engaged learning.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Ph.D. or comparable terminal degree.
• Significant research, teaching, outreach, and/or institution-building experience in the area of university-community engagement.
• Involvement in key national and/or international associations and networks focused on the advancement of university public engagement.
• Experience in organizational change.
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse communities.
• Experience leading university-wide community engagement programs.
• Experience securing grants and other external resources.
• Leadership and administrative experience with broad understanding of public engagement, which are necessary in leading community-engaged research and community-engaged learning programs.

Desired Qualifications:

• Excellence and depth and quality of experience with respect to the qualifications mentioned above.
• Scholarly record of excellence in teaching and research commensurate with a faculty appointment in a relevant academic unit.
• Ability to encourage creativity and innovation.
• Experience in policy and cultural change in higher education.
• Involvement in key national and/or international associations and networks focused on the advancement of university public engagement.
• Leadership, management, and advocacy skills to promote public engagement on and off campus.
• Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues from a wide range of programs and backgrounds and facilitate collaborative processes and initiatives.
• Appreciation of student services and issues involved in managing public engagement programs in a higher education context.
• Strong writing and presentation skills.

About University of Minnesota Twin Cities

The University of Minnesota, founded in the belief that all people are enriched by understanding, is dedicated to the advancement of learning and the search for truth; to the sharing of this knowledge through education for a diverse community; and to the application of this knowledge to benefit the people of the state, the nation, and the world.

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