Message from the Vice Provost

Kwesi Brookins, Vice Provost for University Outreach and Engagement

Growing a Community of Engaged Scholars

As we settle into the academic year, it’s heartening to see a new generation of scholars deepening their commitment to engaged scholarship and connecting with communities in the Lansing area, elsewhere in the state of Michigan, across the United States, and beyond.

Each fall University Outreach and Engagement offers a plethora of professional development opportunities for undergraduate students, graduate and professional students, faculty, and academic staff.

As vice provost, I have administrative responsibilities and a full docket of meetings each week. While I value these aspects of my role and the camaraderie of my colleagues, I find it particularly inspiring to meet scholars, students, and community leaders who share UOE’s commitment to engaged scholarship.

Through our programs and educational offerings, we engage with hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and community leaders who collaborate across academic disciplines and geographic boundaries to advance positive social change. Through these activities, UOE forms countless connections with people on campus and off.

I’ll explore some of these programs in future letters, but here is a sampling of some of the initiatives that give me hope for the future and inspire all of us at UOE in our work.

• Entering its fourth year, UOE’s Urban Community Engagement Fellows Program connects Southwest Lansing community-based organizations with a multidisciplinary team of talented MSU graduate students. Fellows, led by Kevin Brooks, work alongside community-based organizations and local leaders on community-identified priorities. The program emphasizes projects and practices that advance food security, elevate community legacy and storytelling, and foster youth entrepreneurship.
• The Graduate Certificate in Community Engagement, led by Diane Doberneck, prepares professional and graduate students to develop systemic, respectful, and scholarly approaches to their community-engaged work. Students tailor their program of study to strengthen their skills in community-engaged research and creative activities, community-engaged teaching and learning, community-engaged service and practice, and/or community-engaged commercialized activities.
• UOE’s Community-Engaged Research Fellows Program, led by Miles McNall, pairs early- to mid-career faculty and academic staff with mentors. Participants gain an opportunity to strengthen their community-engaged research (CER) skills, co-design CER projects in partnership with communities, and produce scholarly products.
• MSU also is well-represented in the Engagement Scholarship Consortium’s Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop, a competitive professional development program that links advanced doctoral students and early-career faculty with a national network of engaged scholars. Five MSU doctoral students participated this year, representing Social Science, Education, and Agriculture and Natural Resources.
• MSU’s Community Engagement Scholars Program, an initiative of the Center for Community Engaged Learning and the Office of the President in partnership with community organizations in Michigan, provides an opportunity for undergraduates to work directly with community partners to address community-identified projects. Students hone real-world skills such as project management, data collection, economic development, education, nursing and more by working with Lansing-area community organizations and nonprofits.

I encourage you to follow the links to learn about the students, academic staff, faculty, and community partners who are the faces of University Outreach and Engagement! And of course, read our e-newsletter to learn about faculty working in partnership with farmers across Michigan and Indigenous leaders in Alaska.

Kwesi Brookins,

Vice Provost for University Outreach and Engagement