After first stepping onto campus 30 years ago, Vice Provost Brenda Kowalewski announced on Feb. 18 that she will be leaving Weber State University for a new position at Winona State University.
Beginning July 1, Kowalewski will serve Winona State University as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
As vice provost at Weber, Kowalewski was responsible for academic planning, faculty development, leadership training and supporting key initiatives from the provost’s office. With her departure and the implementation of Weber’s realignment plan following the passage of HB 265, the university does not plan to fill the position, leaving a vacancy in academic leadership.
Kowalewski began her journey at Weber State in 1995 as a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, later serving as program director in 2004. In 2006, Kowalewski began working in a quasi-administrative role, blending faculty work with administrative duty in community-based education and moving to a full-time administrator role in the Provost’s Office in 2016.
One of Kowalewski’s contributions to Weber State was co-creating the Center for Community Engaged Learning in 2007. The center offers students and faculty opportunities to engage with partnering local organizations, both on and off campus.
“It really focuses very much on students and helping students get connected to these experiences in the community, and they take what they’re learning in the classroom, and they’re offering it to the community,” Kowalewski said. “In that process, they’re honing their own talents and skills and knowledge sets.”
After co-creating CCEL, Kowalewski went on to co-create the Office of Community Development.
“In 2016, she convened a coalition of seven anchor institutions in Ogden, including the two local hospitals, school district, technical college, city government and health department, to leverage their combined assets to assist in revitalizing East Central Ogden,” Weber State public relations director Bryan Magaña said.
The coalition then grew into the Ogden Civic Action Network, a program that gathers local institutions together to address issues in the community, such as housing and education.
“This mindset about being part of the community is part of our fabric and culture. It’s part of our history. It’s part of who we are,” Kowalewski said. “I can’t take credit for any of that stuff, but what I can say is I honored that history and I further developed that commitment to the community in my senior leadership role through these efforts.”
In fall 2024, Kowalewski was awarded the 2024 Barbara A. Holland Scholar Administrator Award by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities — an award given to administrators who use their leadership to impact both their institutions and their community — for her role in establishing programs like OgdenCAN that promote community engagement.
“Brenda’s impact on our university is immense,” Provost Ravi Krovi said in an announcement to faculty and staff. “Her leadership has shaped both undergraduate and graduate programs, faculty development, international education and student success initiatives that will have a lasting legacy.”
Kowalewski said her time at Weber left her with lessons she will carry forward.
“You don’t make a decision without thinking about our students first. I’ll say the last thing that I learned here: Our student success [is] completely dependent on the success of our faculty and our staff,” Kowalewski said.
