Virginia Vasquez Vought

Executive Director of Central Indiana Engagement

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Virginia Vasquez Vought is executive director of central Indiana engagement, connecting people + places + projects + Purdue to advance the university’s land-grant, community engagement mission. She is a primary point of Purdue contact for the constituents of the hard tech corridor, from the home campus region in and around West Lafayette to Purdue’s Indianapolis campus, and all the communities surrounding and in between. Externally, Virginia cultivates and stewards relationships with business, community, and local government leaders and represents the university and its engagement resources on initiatives with local and state stakeholders. Internally, she stewards a network of stakeholders and individuals across campus who engage Purdue externally. Beyond Indiana, she connects corporate social responsibility, foundation, nonprofit, and social innovation leaders with Purdue’s local, global, and internationally renowned engagement work.

Prior to joining Purdue, Virginia spent nearly a decade as a program officer directing multimillion-dollar capital and programmatic grantmaking portfolios disbursing federal, state, and corporate grant funding related to public libraries, behavioral health care, and the development of healthy communities. Her work has included philanthropy, communications, library science, and external relations roles in the nonprofit, education, government, health, publishing, entertainment, and tech sectors. Virginia currently serves on West Lafayette Mayor Erin Easter’s transition team, the IU Health West Central Region Community Outreach and Engagement committee, the 2024 United Way of Greater Lafayette community campaign, as vice chair, and is a graduate of Leadership Lafayette, Class 52.