Vice President for Outreach

VICE PRESIDENT for OUTREACH

Penn State University

State College, PA

Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), a top-ranked research university and Pennsylvania's sole land-grant institution, founded with a mission of high-quality teaching, expert research, and global service, invites applications and nominations for the role of Vice President for Outreach.

Penn State's Vice President for Outreach plays a strategic leadership role in advancing Penn State’s 21st century land-grant mission by connecting the University’s faculty and student expertise to communities across the commonwealth, nation, and world. Outreach acts as a bridge between the University and the needs of the communities throughout the commonwealth by providing students with meaningful out-of-classroom non-credit engagement opportunities and disseminating faculty research and expertise.

The Vice President for Outreach will report to the newly appointed Penn State President, Neeli Bendapudi and will have university-wide accountability for furthering the success of the University’s land grant mission. The Vice President will manage a budget of more than $35M which includes university funding, fundraising dollars and Outreach generated revenue. The Outreach division is comprised of more than 800 staff members whose diverse professional skills are invaluable to the success of its strategic plan and its contribution to the University's strategic plan.

The vision of Penn State Outreach is to engage and empower communities and individuals within the commonwealth and beyond to become resilient, healthy, sustainable, and innovative. The mission for Penn State Outreach is to make a positive impact on society by engaging diverse audiences in the design and delivery of compelling content and meaningful, evidence-based programs. Outreach’s programming leverages faculty expertise, external partnerships, institutional priorities, and funding opportunities to maximize impact in Pennsylvania, the nation, and the world. In 2021 Penn State received the Ryan, Moser, Reilly Excellence in Community Engagement Institutional Leadership Award from the National Engagement Scholarship Consortium for: “Penn State’s exemplary leadership in advancing the field of community-engaged scholarship.”

The Pennsylvania State University is committed to and accountable for advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability in all its forms. Penn State embraces individual uniqueness, fosters a culture of inclusion that supports both broad and specific diversity initiatives, leverages the educational and institutional benefits of diversity in society and nature, and engages all individuals to help them thrive. Penn State values inclusion as a core strength and an essential element of their public service mission

The next vice president must hold a master's or advanced degree and have a minimum of eight years of progressively more complex professional experience, including at least five years at a senior management level.

WittKieffer is assisting Penn State in this search. All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited.  Applications should include, as separate documents, a CV or resume and a letter of interest addressing the themes in the leadership profile, which can be found at www.wittkieffer.com. This search is being conducted on a rolling basis and applications will be accepted until a suitable candidate is named.  Candidate materials should be submitted using WittKieffer’s candidate portal.

Please direct nominations and inquiries to the WittKieffer consultants supporting this search:

Jeff Compher and Sandra Chu

PennStateVPOutreach@wittkieffer.com

CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS: For more about safety at Penn State, and to review the Annual Security Report, which contains information about crime statistics and other safety and security matters, please go to http://www.police.psu.edu/clery/, which will also provide you with detail on how to request a hard copy of the Annual Security Report.

Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.