Kirk Dombrowski is a transformational public‑university executive with a recognized record of advancing institutional stature, strengthening research and innovation enterprises, and aligning academic excellence with public mission. He currently serves as Vice President for Research and Economic Development and University Distinguished Professor at the University of Vermont (UVM), where he provides executive leadership for research, innovation, community engagement, and economic development across the university, its academic health system, and affiliated research centers.

Since assuming this role in 2020, Dr. Dombrowski has led UVM through a period of historic growth and organizational transformation. Under his leadership, the university doubled annual research expenditures—from approximately $135 million to nearly $280 million—and achieved Carnegie R1 classification in 2025, placing UVM among the nation’s highest‑activity research universities. He rebuilt research governance and administrative systems, expanded faculty research development capacity, modernized compliance and integrity infrastructure, and strengthened financial stewardship across a $260M+ research enterprise.

Dr. Dombrowski has also positioned UVM as a national model for modern land‑grant engagement. He founded and scaled the Office of Engagement and the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships, distributing more than $6 million in competitive community‑university partnership grants and resetting the institution’s role in statewide economic and workforce development. He directed Vermont’s EDA‑designated Semiconductor Tech Hub (V‑GaN) initiative, coordinating partnerships among state government, industry, and higher education and securing significant federal investment.

A cultural scholar by training and an institution‑builder by practice, Dr. Dombrowski has held senior leadership roles at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and The City University of New York, combining deep experience in faculty governance, research administration, and interdisciplinary collaboration. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the national EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation, representing research leadership from 25 states and advancing federal research competitiveness for under‑resourced regions.

Across his career, Dr. Dombrowski’s leadership philosophy has emphasized institutional trust, fiscal discipline, and long‑term capacity building, grounded in the public mission of higher education and informed by sustained engagement with rural, Indigenous, and underserved communities.