Jennifer Frum became UGA’s fourth Vice President for Public Service and Outreach in 2012, and the first woman to serve in the role. She provides institutional leadership for UGA’s outreach and engagement and economic development efforts across Georgia, which includes eight diverse Public Service and Outreach units: Carl Vinson Institute of Government, J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, UGA Center for Continuing Education & Hotel, Archway Partnership, State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, Small Business Development Centers (18), and the Office of Service-Learning (co-managed with the Vice President for Instruction). Frum also provides leadership (with the Vice President for Research) for UGA’s economic development programming, including the university’s economic development office in Atlanta.
Frum is responsible for training, technical assistance, continuing education, and applied research programs that create new small businesses, make government more efficient, provide students with real-world experiences, bring economic development opportunities to Georgia, protect the environment, revitalize downtowns, and has a $753 million annual economic impact on Georgia.
Frum has strengthened Public Service and Outreach’s (PSO) economic development partnerships across the state and implemented three strategic priorities for the University’s outreach programs: helping create jobs and prosperity, developing the state’s leaders, and addressing critical state issues.
Frum joined UGA in 1995 as a research professional in the Office of International Development. She joined UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government in September 2006. She served as deputy director and interim director of the Vinson Institute and interim Vice President for Public Service and Outreach from July 1, 2011, to January 31, 2012. She also served as interim president of Armstrong State University from June through December 2017.
Prior to her time at UGA, she worked in Washington for U.S. Representative Bob Wise.
Frum has served on the boards of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development, the Athens Area Community Foundation, and Georgia Women of Achievement. In 2016, she co-founded the National Forum, a working group of university-based senior engagement officers from around the country, focused on networking and sharing best practices in the field. Additionally, she has served on the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Council on Engagement and Outreach and the National Engaged Scholars Consortium Board of Directors. She was an invited participant in the 2014 American Council on Education National Women’s Leadership Forum and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Higher Education Policy Fellows program in 2017-2018. She serves as an Ex-Officio member on both the State Botanical Garden Board of Advisors and the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development’s Advisory Board. Since 2012, Frum has served as publisher of the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, an M.A. from George Washington University, and a B.A. from West Virginia University. She was named one of Georgia Trend’s 2012 “Power Women” in Georgia, was among Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians in 2016 and 2017, and Georgia Trend’s 500 Most Influential Leaders in 2022 and 2023. She received the Janette Rankin Foundation “Smart Women” Award in 2018 and the University of Georgia Blue Key Service Award in 2022.