Tania D. Mitchell

Tania D. Mitchell is the inaugural associate provost for community engagement at the University of Maryland-College Park. In this role, Mitchell leads UMD’s new Center for Community Engagement, guides the development of a vision and mission for the center’s work, and collaborates with campus partners to expand and support community engaged research, teaching, learning and service activities. She also oversees the coordination of campuswide community engagement efforts—elevating existing partnerships and creating new programs and initiatives.

Previously, Mitchell served as professor and chair of the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development, and as the Rodney Wallace Professor for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Her scholarship and teaching focus on fostering students’ leadership capacity for social change and social justice; and the pedagogy, philosophy and practice of service-learning and community engagement in higher education.

With professional experience in admissions, student activities, residential life and academic affairs, Mitchell is a scholar and practitioner who has taught at Stanford University, Mills College, California State University Monterey Bay and the University of Massachusetts. She has been recognized with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award and the Early Career Research Award by the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement and is also an inducted member of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship, honoring her scholarly contributions.

Mitchell’s scholarship has been published in numerous books and journals, and she is an editor of four books: 

• Civic Engagement and Community Service at Research Universities: Engaging Undergraduates for Social Justice, Social Change, and Responsible Citizenship
• Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and Community Engagement
• Educating for Citizenship and Social Justice: Practices for Community Engagement at Research Universities
• Black Women and Social Justice Education: Legacies and Lessons

She holds a B.A. in political science and communications from Baylor University, an M.S. in higher education and student affairs from Indiana University, and a graduate certificate in feminist studies and an Ed.D. in student development from the University of Massachusetts.