Biography

Dr. Steve VandenAvond has been Northern Michigan University's Vice President for Extended Learning and Community Engagement since 2015.  Steve has worked in adult and continuing education for almost 20 years as a faculty member and administrator in both private/non-profit and public colleges and universities and has devoted his career to providing adult students with suitable access to higher education.  Having received his doctorate in development psychology from Loyola University-Chicago, Steve’s focus has been finding ways to not only create adult friendly academic programs and services, but to cultivate meaningful and engaging relationships with adult students, especially when they study at a distance.  Much of Steve’s focus during the past decade has been in the area of academic models that promote nimbleness, innovation, and teamwork and in immersive and engaging instructional technology and andragogy.

Dr. VandenAvond came to NMU from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he had been serving as the Associate Provost and Dean for Outreach and Adult Access since 2010.  From 2000-2010 he was a faculty member and administrator at Silver Lake College and was a faculty member and the director of the psychology program at Michigan Technological University from 1997-2000 where he also co-founded and directed the Center for Educational Technology Research and Assessment.  Before working in academia, Steve spent three years as a researcher at the Leo Burnett Company, a Chicago-based marketing and advertising agency.