In April, UniverCity Alliance’s program manager Megan McBride will serve as managing director as Gavin Luter steps into a new role with a network of programs like UniverCity after seven years of stewarding partnerships between Wisconsin local governments and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Luter joined UniverCity as managing director in April 2018. During that time, UniverCity’s partnership program called UniverCity Year expanded to work with multiple communities a year, engaged hundreds of partners on campus, and was recognized by national and state organizations.
“When I started this role seven years ago, I could never have imagined the amount of communities we worked with would have grown so much. We’ve worked with 43 communities since our inception in 2015!,” Luter said. “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with each and every one of our campus and community partners. Their knowledge, wisdom, and insights have made this job rewarding and developmental for me.”
Luter will be working more closely with Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Network (EPIC-N), which brings together programs like UniverCity that are located across the nation and globe.
McBride, the current program manager, is the new managing director of UniverCity Alliance and will start the position April 1. McBride has previously worked in local government, including as an assistant city planner and director of planning and development for the City of Ashland and as a grants administrator for the City of Beloit.
McBride said she understands the resource constraints that Wisconsin local governments face and the commitment of local government staff to their communities.
“This is why I think the work of UniverCity Alliance is so important for empowering communities, as it helps to overcome these barriers by bringing together this passion of local governments, new ideas, energy, and expertise from students and faculty working on the projects,” McBride said.