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After a national search, Deborah (Debbie) Goldstein has been selected as the new associate vice president/associate vice provost for community-engaged scholarship. She will report jointly to Stelfanie Williams, Vice President for Community Affairs, and Ed Balleisen, Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies in the Provost’s Office. Her first day in this new role will be March 1, 2025.

“Debbie is deeply committed to scholarly community engagement and to this region,” said Williams. “Debbie brings relevant policy experience on issues critical to our local and global partnerships, knowledge of the university and surrounding communities, and dedication to reciprocity and collaboration, which are vital as we strengthen educational partnerships and establish the new Center for Community Engagement.”

Goldstein joined Duke in 2020 as the executive director of the North Carolina Leadership Forum (NCLF) and became the senior director for community engagement in 2024. She will continue to oversee NCLF as part of the new Duke , which launch Wednesday at a daylong event at the Durham Convention Center.

Williams said Goldstein’s leadership, along with the expertise of the Center’s faculty director, Mina Silberberg, Ph.D., will help Duke build a solid foundation to expand opportunities for engagement and shared success with communities. Goldstein will also manage Duke Community Affairs’ community engagement and educational outreach teams.

Goldstein’s expertise in community engagement is recognized locally and nationally. Since 2020, she has been involved in community-engaged research through Duke's Bass Connections program, working with students, faculty, and community partners on topics such as predatory lending and cross-partisan collaboration in policy-making. In 2021, she was a finalist for the Bass Connections Leadership Award.

“Throughout her entire career, Debbie Goldstein has demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to bring together people from diverse backgrounds to tackle complex societal issues,” Balleisen. “Her work at Duke with the North Carolina Leadership Forum, the depth of her networks across Durham and the state, and her commitment to equitable community-engaged scholarship make her the ideal candidate for this role.”

For the past five years, Goldstein has led the , which works with state and local policy leaders from the government, business, and nonprofit sectors to engage constructively on important community issues, particularly focusing on learning from areas of strong disagreement. In this work, she has helped to strengthen and expand the NCLF program to reach over 400 leaders and engage a growing number of Duke students and faculty in research and learning related to NCLF’s efforts.

"I am honored and excited to take on this new role at Duke,” Goldstein said. “During over two decades in Durham, I’ve witnessed the power of university-community partnerships, and I am committed to fostering collaborations that contribute to our community's growth and vitality and encouraging students to engage with local partners. I believe the Duke Center for Community Engagement has the potential to empower students and faculty to address pressing social issues while building lasting connections with local organizations and residents, helping to build a stronger, more connected Durham."

Prior to joining Duke, Goldstein served as Executive Vice President at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), a national research and policy organization affiliated with NC-based community development leader Self-Help that focuses on protecting borrowers from abusive lending practices. At CRL, she led several state legislative campaigns, worked with numerous local coalitions on behalf of mortgage, payday, and student loan borrowers, and contributed legal expertise to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.

Goldstein has also taught consumer law courses as an adjunct faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill Law School and served as a co-team leader on several Duke Bass Connections project teams, including one on the financial crisis and another on political polarization in North Carolina. She has lived in Durham since 2001 and has been an active local community member. Goldstein has served on the boards of Durham Congregations in Action, Beth El Synagogue, and Bend the Arc and is a founding member of Carolina Jews for Justice. She earned her bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Brown University and her law degree from Harvard Law School.