Kwesi Brookins Named Permanent Vice Provost for Outreach and Engagement
Kwesi Brookins has been named permanent Vice Provost for Outreach and Engagement, effective July 1. Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Warwick Arden made the announcement today.
Brookins currently serves as Interim Vice Provost for Outreach and Engagement. In his permanent position, Brookins will work with Outreach and Engagement staff, the Engagement Operations Council and other key community partners, faculty and staff to support the unit’s mission and vision and to help achieve strategic goals.
“Kwesi’s dedication and service to NC State over the years gives him a unique perspective on how to positively advance our university and surrounding community,” said Arden. “I look forward to working with him and the Outreach and Engagement staff to grow the reach and impact of the office in the future.”
Brookins is also the director of NC State’s Center for Family and Community Engagement, and a professor in the Department of Psychology. He joined NC State in 1990, and in 1997 founded and became director of the Africana studies major and minor programs. Over the years, his research has primarily focused on psychoeducational interventions designed to promote wellbeing with youth and adults. More recently, he has worked with government, nonprofit and private partners in Wake County and across North Carolina to build social and economic vitality in underserved communities.
He was a 2018-19 American Council on Education Fellow. He was awarded an Alumni Distinguished Award for Extension and is a charter member of the Academy of Outstanding Faculty in Engagement and Extension at NC State, and a Community Engaged Faculty Fellow. He is currently president-elect of the Society for Community Research and Action, a divisionof the American Psychological Association and in 2007 received the Ethnic Minority Mentor Award for his work with graduate students.
“I am very much looking forward to continuing the work of supporting the outreach and engagement of our faculty and students at NC State,” said Brookins. “As a land grant and community engaged instituion, we are increasingly being asked to elevate our engagement scholarship in service to our local and state-wide partners and communities. This is an exciting time to take on this responsibility”
Brookins received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Bradley University, and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in ecological/community psychology from Michigan State University.
