Dr. Craig D. Weidemann | Penn State Vice President for Outreach

Dr. Craig D. Weidemann was named Penn State's vice president for outreach in 2003. In this position he oversees the University's outreach initiatives and is responsible for Continuing Education, Penn State Online, the World Campus, Penn State Public Broadcasting, Economic and Workforce Development, and Cooperative Extension.

Penn State Outreach is the largest unified outreach organization in American higher education. Each year Penn State touches one out of every two households in the Commonwealth, serving more than 95 million participants, viewers, and listeners at more than 125 locations, and from all 50 states and 80 countries.

Dr. Weidemann has been recognized for his leadership and contributions in higher education with the Julius M. Nolte Award from the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA). In 2006 he was selected by the University of Georgia's College of Education Awards Committee to receive the Professional Achievement Alumni Award.

Dr. Weidemann has served two terms on the Commission on Lifelong Learning of the American Council on Education. In 2004 he was appointed to the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board by Governor Rendell. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Dr. Weidemann has held a number of national leadership positions with UCEA, including serving on the board of directors and chairing the National Task Force on Displaced Professionals and the Division of Business, Industry, and Labor. He is secretary of the Council on Engagement and Outreach of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and serves on the Committee on Engagement of the CIC (the academic consortium of the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago). Dr. Weidemann also serves as the treasurer of the National Outreach Scholarship Conference Partnership.

Prior to his appointment at Penn State, Dr. Weidemann was the vice provost and executive assistant to the president at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). In that position he led several outreach initiatives, including the Deutsche Banc/Alex. Brown Center for Science and Technology Entrepreneurship and the UMBC President's Advisory Council on Business Outreach. He provided the leadership for the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, a nationally recognized academic program for minority students in the sciences, and was responsible for supervising the UMBC's Division I athletic program in the America East Conference. During his tenure as vice provost at UMBC, Dr. Weidemann served on the Greater Baltimore Technology Council and the Information Technology Task Force of the Governor's Workforce Investment Board; he was chair of the Baltimore County Technology Council for three years.

Dr. Weidemann has also served as associate vice president for research and dean of the College of Graduate and Extended Education at Towson University, where he led the campus graduate program, research agenda, and academic outreach initiative. And he has held administrative positions at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Weidemann serves on the board of directors of Special Olympics Pennsylvania and has held a number of other leadership positions with nonprofit organizations. He has written and presented on various topics, including adult learning and memory, board management, strategic partnerships, workforce issues, continuing education, and managerial issues in higher education. He has taught courses on education, leadership, and management at several universities.

Dr. Weidemann earned his bachelor's degree in psychology at Illinois State University and his doctorate in educational psychology at the University of Georgia.