Kirk Dombrowski is the Vice President for Research and Economic Development and University Distinguished Professor at the University of Vermont (UVM). At UVM he oversees, coordinates and develop a wide range of university-level activities that link research, experiential learning, philanthropy, corporate and community partnerships, and federal relations to promote economic and workforce development in the northeast. This work combines elements of the traditional university land grant mission with a reinvention of the “teacher scholar” model to better meet the evolving relationship between universities and their surrounding communities and businesses. To accomplish this work, Kirk oversees approximately 200 staff across 14 offices/units, an annual division operating budget of $36 million, and responsibility for approximately $260 million in annual expenditures.  Since arriving at UVM in 2020, the university has raised annual sponsored project revenue from 10 years of ~$130 million to more than $260 million.

Prior to joining UVM, Kirk served as founding director of the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, an NIH-supported Center for Biomedical Research Excellence, and directed the Nebraska Center for Virology. He has published in peer review journals ranging from computational social science, to epidemiology, to network simulation. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from the CUNY Graduate School, an MA from Columbia University, and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame.