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Burton A. Bargerstock

Burton A. Bargerstock is co-director of the National Center for the Study of University Engagement and director of Communication and Information Technology for University Outreach and Engagement (UOE) at Michigan State University (MSU). He directs information system development, publications, public/media relations, and event management; and serves on university-wide advisory committees. Since 1994, Bargerstock has participated in a number of institutional research efforts, including the development of the Outreach & Engagement Measurement Instrument (OEMI) which collects data on faculty outreach efforts and activities. Under the aegis of the National Center for the Study of University Engagement (NCSUE) he leads the OEMI project, heading its implementation at MSU and partnering institutions. Bargerstock also helped shape an ongoing qualitative research project that studies the impact of outreach on scholarship and scholarly lives. Recently, he was involved in the creation and development of the MSU Usability & Accessibility Center, a University laboratory that conducts research on and provides services for the evaluation of human/technology interfaces (e.g., software, Web sites, etc.). He is an institutional member of EDUCAUSE and the University Continuing Education Association, and is president of the MSU Chapter of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.

Laurie Van Egeren

Laurie Van Egeren, Ph.D., is the co-director of the National Center for the Study of University Engagement and director of the Community Evaluation and Research Center. She conducts both program evaluations and community-based research. Van Egeren has led or co-led several statewide evaluations to assess the implementation and outcomes of state-funded programs for children, youth, and families, including the evaluations of 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the All Students Achieve Program - Parent Involvement in Education, and the Child Care Expulsion Prevention Initiative. Van Egeren's research interests focus on contributions of programmatic quality, organizational structure, and community context to differences in child, youth, and family outcomes. She also conducts basic research in coparenting and family development. She holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Michigan State University.

Robert E. Brown

Robert E. Brown is the associate director for University-Community Partnerships. He works to support, nurture, and expand outreach and engagement at MSU through structural, collaborative, and curricular initiatives. He also promotes communities’ use of actionable knowledge and evidence-based interventions/models. With his colleague Celeste Sturdevant Reed, he developed the Outcome Asset Impact Model (Outcome/impact assessment model: Linking outcomes and assets, Evaluation and Program Planning, 24(3), 287-295). A description of their work can be found on the Capable Communities Web site. He is also a team member of the National Center for the Study of University Engagement.

Robert L. Church

Robert L. Church, Ph.D., is a University Outreach and Engagement senior fellow, professor emeritus of educational administration, and vice provost emeritus for university outreach. He continues his participation on the team that is developing, testing, and implementing a series of strategies for measuring and assessing the university's success in sharing its knowledge resources with off-campus organizations in ways that benefit the citizens of Michigan. He is particularly interested in advancing our understanding of how scholars from various academic traditions understand their outreach responsibilities and integrate that outreach work with their on-campus research and teaching responsibilities. This work is part of UOE's effort to encourage greater faculty involvement with communities in Michigan. Church holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in the history of American civilization.

Diane Doberneck

Diane M. Doberneck, Ph.D., is a research specialist in the National Center for the Study of University Engagement and an adjunct assistant professor in the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program. She conducts research on the effectiveness of institutional change efforts and designs curricula to support the scholarship of engagement at multiple levels of the institution. In addition, she co-leads an international collaborative with the Tochar Valley Rural Community Network (Co. Mayo, Ireland) that focuses on enhancing rural community vitality through autonomous community development and engaged learning experiences for students. Doberneck holds a Ph.D. in organizational and community resource development from Michigan State University.

Hiram E. Fitzgerald

Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Ph.D., is associate provost for university outreach and engagement and university distinguished professor of psychology at Michigan State University. He is actively involved with the NASULGC Council on Engagement and Outreach, the Outreach Scholarship Conference, and the Higher Education Network for University Engagement. Fitzgerald is co-director of the Michigan Longitudinal Study of Family Risk for Alcoholism over the Life Course (now in its 22nd year), is a member of the steering committee of the American Indian/Alaska Native Head Start Research Center, and is a member of a variety of interdisciplinary research teams focusing on evaluation of community-based prevention programs. His major areas of funded research include the study of infant and family development in community contexts, the impact of fathers on early child development, implementation of systemic models of organizational process and change, the etiology of alcoholism, the digital divide and youth access to technologies, and broad issues related to the scholarship of engagement. Since 1992, Fitzgerald has also served as the executive director of the World Association for Infant Mental Health. Fitzgerald holds a Ph.D. in experimental child psychology (1967) from the University of Denver.

Cindy M. Helms

Cindy M. Helms is an editorial assistant at the National Center for the Study of University Engagement, Communication and Information Technologies, and the Office of the Associate Provost for University Outreach and Engagement. Helms researches the MSU Web site for activities, programs, and workshops for the Statewide Resource Network (SRN) and Spartan Youth Programs (SYP) Web sites. Helms is also involved in the everyday functioning of the office from setting up meetings and scheduling meeting rooms to preparing travel vouchers.

Theodore Hullar

Dr. Hullar has held numerous positions in executive leadership with research universities, government, and nonprofits. These include Chancellor at University of California, Davis (1987-1994), and at University of California, Riverside (1985–1987). More recently he was Director of the Higher Education Program at the Atlantic Philanthropies (2000-2004). His current academic home is Cornell University, New York.

Dr. Hullar's scholarly interests include higher education policy, governance, programs, and societal engagement; environmental and natural resources policy and management, especially for water and land; toxic and hazardous wastes; and environmental toxicology. Another focus area includes extramurally funded biomedical research focused on carbohydrate, nucleotide, and cofactor organic and biochemistry.

Dr. Hullar received his university education at the University of Minnesota (Ph.D., 1963; Biochemistry; B.S., 1957) and as a National Science Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow (1963-1964). He is a Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Kirk S. Riley

Kirk S. Riley is an academic specialist at University Outreach and Engagement (UOE) and the Executive Director of the Information Technology Empowerment Center (ITEC), Lansing, MI. The center—a non-profit that operates under a Board of Directors composed of academic, governmental, school district, and private sector partners—seeks to strengthen K-12 learning in science, technology, engineering, and math. ITEC operates in the former Holmes Street Elementary School in Lansing. At UOE, Riley's primary interests are formulating and applying methods for the study of university engagement, promoting scholarly approaches to the practice of engagement, and engaging university faculty in outreach. He participates as a member of the National Center for the Study of University Engagement and began employment in UOE in January 2006. Riley is a Fellow in the Center for Water Sciences at MSU and Member of the Outreach Advisory Board for the Great Lakes Environmental and Molecular Science Center, at Western Michigan University. He lectures on risk communication and public involvement in environmental decision making at MSU. Riley has a master's degree in resource development from Michigan State University.

Diane L. Zimmerman

Diane L. Zimmerman, Ph.D., is the director emeritus of the National Center for the Study of University Engagement. Her primary interest areas are higher education policy and administration, communication strategies, and outreach and engagement evaluation and measurement. Zimmerman has participated with the decade-long conversations and presentations on evaluating and measuring scholarly outreach. She served as a team member and editor of Points of Distinction: A Guidebook for Planning & Evaluating Quality Outreach; co-authored, with Robert L. Church and Burton A. Bargerstock, "Measuring Scholarly Outreach at Michigan State University--Definition, Challenges, Tools"; and wrote, with Peter McPherson, Robert Church, and Nancy Pogel, a chapter entitled, "Real-World, Practical Learning: Developing a Comprehensive Model in the Land-Grant Tradition, Michigan State University," in Learning to Serve (2002). She leads the initiative that is developing and implementing the Outreach & Engagement Measurement Instrument to collect information on faculty-based outreach activity. She is co-principal investigator of the evaluation of a K-12 philanthropy curriculum. In the past two years, she has given direction to the development of the MSU Usability & Accessibility Center, and she gives overall leadership to various Web development initiatives. Prior to coming to MSU in 1991, Zimmerman held administrative and faculty positions in small private colleges and editorial positions in publishing. She holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Michigan State University.

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