Monica Bruning

Managing director, J CENTER for Innovative Higher Education, University of Minnesota

Monica Bruning is managing director of the Jandris Center for Innovative Higher Education in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Organizational Leadership and Professional Development. The J CENTER is anchored in the belief that transformational changes are necessary to ensure and sustain high-quality, accessible and affordable higher education for future generations. Bruning co-leads the center’s efforts to inspire leaders and scholars to make change, engage communities of innovative practice and disrupt assumptions through the use of creative tools and change practices.

She has experience serving as associate vice chancellor for enrollment and institutional effectiveness and directing related units at the University of Minnesota. Bruning was a research associate and graduate faculty member at Iowa State University and co-led numerous large, multi-year, collaborative grant projects. She has a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Iowa State, a master’s in public administration from the University of Colorado-Denver and a bachelor’s in education from North Dakota State University.