Veterans and Alumni

Emeriti

  • Robert L. Church
  • Vice Provost Emeritus, University Outreach
  • Professor Emeritus, Department of Educational Administration
  • E-Mail: rchurch@msu.edu | Bio

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.

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  • Karen McKnight Casey
  • Director, Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement
  • E-Mail: caseyk@msu.edu | Vita | Bio

Karen McKnight Casey is the director of the award-winning Michigan State University (MSU) Service-Learning and Civic Engagement initiative. McKnight Casey is responsible for facilitating university endeavors that provide curricular and co-curricular, service-based learning, community and civic engagement opportunities for MSU students. She works closely with faculty, university administrators, students and community partners to ensure that opportunities are offered that meet academic, personal, professional, and civic development goals, while simultaneously addressing the community-generated requests related to service and capacity-building. In addition to her role as director, McKnight Casey serves as adjunct with the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, and as field instructor in the School of Social Work, of which she is an alumna. Her background includes service in the Peace Corps, work as a resident director and academic advisor, and extensive professional experience working in community non-profit organizations. She is published in the areas of university-community collaborations and service-learning practice and research, and presents at national and international conferences. McKnight Casey represents Michigan State University in Campus Compact's The Research University Civic Engagement Network (TRUCEN), and participates with a variety of state and community committees and boards.

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  • Laurie A. Van Egeren
  • Co-Director, National Collaborative for the Study of University Engagement (former)
  • Director, Community Evaluation and Research Collaborative
  • E-Mail: vanegere@msu.edu | Vita | Bio

Laurie Van Egeren, Ph.D., is the director of the Community Evaluation and Research Collaborative. She served as the co-director of the National Collaborative for the Study of University Engagement from 2008-2013. She conducts both program evaluations and basic research funded by federal, state, and local grants and contracts. Among those are the Michigan 21st Century Community Learning Centers statewide evaluation. Van Egeren also conducts evaluation and research in STEM education, early intervention in low-income families and families with autistic children, economic and community development, and coparenting and family relationships. Her research interests are in applications of dosage in community programs, organizational contributions to individual outcomes, and evaluation use. She holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology and an M.A. in child and family clinical psychology from Michigan State University.

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  • Diane L. Zimmerman
  • Director Emeritus, National Collaborative for the Study of University Engagement
  • E-Mail: zimmerdl@msu.edu | Bio

Diane L. Zimmerman, Ph.D., is the director emeritus of the National Collaborative 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 Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting, 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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