Stegeman will retire as community engagement director

A national search will be conducted for a director of the Office of Community Engagement, following the early August retirement of Ruth Stegeman.

The office is now housed within the Provost's Office, it had been housed in the College of Community and Public Service. Suzeanne Benet, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs, said restructuring the office and moving it into administration gives it more support and visibility.

"This is clearly a university initiative at this point, so moving the office out of one college ensures that it gets the support it needs," Benet said.

Stegeman has been in the position since 2012, and has focused her efforts on developing partnerships between Grand Valley and the community. She also created the Engaged Department Initiative and wrote the place-based section of the civic action plan that was unveiled in April. Now in the third year, the Engaged Department Initiative expands community-based learning opportunities for students and enhances community partnerships.

Stegeman is most proud of the strong partnerships developing between the university and community, including many on the West Side.

"The place-based commitment of the civic action plan provided an opportunity to work with representatives from the West Side of Grand Rapids to determine neighborhood priorities and ways Grand Valley could help address challenges," she said.

Benet said Stegeman will be a hard act to follow, and credited her for including many people in the conversations about community engagement and raising awareness and interest in community engagement across the university.

The next director will be responsible for continuing assessment and moving the initiative forward, Benet said.

"We want to make sure more groups are engaged and more faculty understand the benefits of civic engagement for their students," she said.

A retirement celebration for Stegeman will be held on Tuesday, August 1, from 4-6 p.m. in the DeVos Center, University Club Room, with remarks at 5 p.m.