Dan Kahl
Director of Land-grant Engagement Community and Student Engagement; Associate Director, Blueprint Kentucky; Associate Professor, Department of Community and Leadership Development
Dr. Kahl is a Cooperative Extension Specialist serving as an Associate Professor of Community and Leadership Development and the Associate Director of Blueprint Kentucky (formerly CEDIK) at the University of Kentucky. In addition, he serves as a collaborative research partner with the CLD Community Innovation Lab.
Dr. Kahl has nearly 20 years of experience working with local community improvement teams and developing programs to support sustained community development initiatives. His history includes 9 years of directing a non-profit organization; 2 years of directing an AmeriCorps Service Learning project; 2 years of creating a state environmental leadership program (and participating in it for the next 12 years); 14 years of directing a state community improvement program; 7 years of supporting civic engagement and facilitation training through the Institute of Civic Discourse and Democracy; and 10 years of coordinating university outreach and extension projects to improve communities.
Dr. Kahl is committed to helping community members improve their environment and quality of life through purposeful organizing for action. This includes facilitated conversations to work through differences and identify common interests, as well as shared planning and decision making processes. Current projects include coordinating the CEDIK Business Retention and Expansion program, working with high school Agricultural Education classes to support rural business, designing programs to support community members in discovering and improving local policies, systems, and environmental access to health, a community coaching initiative, a community engagement initiative through the Community Development Society, teaching a class on Community Leadership, and establishing community engagement resources for use in Kentucky Cooperative Extension.