Laurie Van Egeren, Vice Provost for Public Engagement
As the University of Minnesota's chief public engagement officer, Vice Provost Van Egeren oversees the University's systemwide public engagement agenda. Her portfolio includes the management of the University's Office for Public Engagement, as well as oversight of its three reporting units: the Center for Community Engaged Learning, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, and Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center. Prior to coming to the University in October of 2023, she served as the assistant provost for university-community partnerships and adjunct professor in Human Development and Family Studies at Michigan State University (MSU). Recognized as an experienced leader of public and community engagement in higher education and a scholar in the field of public engagement and evaluation methods for community-engaged research, Vice Provost Van Egeren is president of the internationally recognized Engagement Scholarship Consortium and serves on the leadership team of the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Advancing Research Impacts in Society. She holds a doctorate in developmental psychology and a master's degree in child/family clinical psychology from MSU.
David Weerts, Associate Vice Provost for Public Engagement
Associate Vice Provost for Public Engagement Weerts plays a key role in advancing public engagement as a strategy to enhance the quality and impact of teaching, research, and outreach across the University of Minnesota's five campus system. A professor in the University's College of Education and Human Development, Associate Vice Provost Weerts' scholarship and teaching has focused on intersections among university-community engagement, state financing of higher education, and institutional advancement. He has held major gift officer positions at the University of Wisconsin Foundation and University of Minnesota Foundation and served two terms on the executive committee for the Association for Public and Land-grant Universities' Council for Engagement and Outreach. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Seed Coalition, a multi-campus network aimed at strengthening the capacity of colleges and universities to fulfill the public purposes of higher education. He holds a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.