Wilmington College and President Daniel A. DiBiasio invite nominations and expressions of interest for the position of Vice President for College Advancement (VPCA) of Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio. The VPCA, who is the chief advancement officer for the College, reports directly to the President, works closely with the Board of Trustees, and is responsible for leading a comprehensive advancement program. The VPCA is also responsible for leading and managing the offices of: Development (annual giving, major giving, planned giving, and endowment giving), Alumni Relations, College Relations, and Public Relations. Wilmington College is experiencing a period of growth and is in the process of implementing its exciting 2004 strategic plan, “An Agenda for Distinction”, that will position the College to prepare future students for their lives in the increasingly competitive world of tomorrow. Successful implementation of the strategic plan requires a highly motivated person who is excited by the challenge and potential of the position and whose leadership and management styles are highly collaborative and directed toward consensus building.
Founded in 1870 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Wilmington College enrolls approximately 1,200 undergraduates on the Wilmington, Ohio campus, and an additional 500 students at five external program sites. The Wilmington campus, located approximately half-way between Columbus and Cincinnati, is an attractively landscaped 65 acres, which includes 21 buildings, of which eight are residence halls. The College maintains an additional 1,400 acres of farmland used for agriculture majors and/or leased for commercial operations. Also, the College maintains the Hazard Arboretum, a natural area which is used for teaching and research. Undergraduate majors are offered in 22 areas and graduate programs in education. Strongly grounded in its Quaker heritage, the College adheres to seven core values: community, diversity, excellence, integrity, peace and social justice, respect for all persons, and service and civic engagement.
Wilmington College has a strong commitment to integrating the liberal arts, career preparation, and its Quaker values. The liberal arts are emphasized for all students through the general education program and the development of life-long learning skills; career preparation is emphasized through internships and opportunities for practical application of student learning; and Quaker values are encouraged by emphasizing peace and social justice, service, international awareness, and ethical and moral issues in the curricular and co-curricular experiences. The distinctive integration of the liberal arts, career preparation, and Quaker values is the hallmark of a Wilmington College education.
The student body is composed of two distinct populations – those on the Wilmington campus who are generally of traditional college age, and those enrolled in the various off-campus centers who tend to be older. The Wilmington campus is residential, with about 70% of the students living in College-owned residence halls and apartments. Nearly 50% of the traditional age students are first generation and many of them work part-time to meet expenses. The average ACT of the entering class this past year was 21 and the average high school grade point average was 3.2.
The College has been successful in achieving structural diversity within the student body, now including about 16% persons of color, but Wilmington also desires greater diversity in terms of other races, religions, cultures and nations of origin to add to the richness of the educational experience. Like many other colleges, Wilmington has not been as successful in achieving similar diversity within the faculty, staff and administration but continues to make special efforts, and to devise new strategies to achieve this end.
Curricular and co-curricular programs challenge and support students in an educational setting that is small, personal, and friendly. Within this setting, a significant number of students are involved in programs intended to enhance and enrich their total educational experience, including student government, community service, travel and study abroad, theater, music, and intercollegiate athletics.
Students attending the off-campus sites are typically adult students who work full time. The off-campus sites are in two locations in the greater Cincinnati area, including one new branch campus in Blue Ash, Ohio, and a presence on the campus of the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. In addition, the College continues to offer certificate programs in three area correctional facilities, programs that reflect the historic concern of Quakers for prison reform and inmate education.
The faculty is composed of 71 full-time members and 71 adjuncts (22 FTE). Approximately two-thirds of the full-time faculty have a terminal degree in their area of specialty and 52% of the full-time faculty are tenured. The average class size at Wilmington College is approximately 20 students while the student to faculty ratio is 18.1.
The annual operating budget for FY 08 is $23.8 million with 89% derived from tuition and fees. The annual cost for tuition, room and board and associated fees is approximately $29,000. The market value of funds serving as endowment total $22.2 million.
Many of the challenges and opportunities facing the next Vice President for College Advancement are outlined in the College’s strategic plan, “An Agenda for Distinction,” developed by the College community and adopted by the Board of Trustees in April, 2004. The plan recognizes that Wilmington College, like many other colleges and universities, is confronting the prospect of shifting student markets, strong competition for students within the region, a decline in government support for financial aid, and a college selection process that is increasingly based on cost. More specific to Wilmington is the fact that the student body contains a larger majority of first-generation students with family incomes below $50,000 than many of the private and public colleges and universities with which it competes. Many of the lower and middle-income families from which Wilmington draws the majority of its students face a decline in real purchasing power, layoffs and other economic adjustments that reduce their ability to support children in college. Against this backdrop, Wilmington College has been both positive and entrepreneurial by recognizing that it has the vision and resources to shape the future positively.
Wilmington College realizes that its future depends upon the quality of its academic programs and the congruence between those programs and its distinctive mission and academic capacity. A new Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty is providing leadership to address issues in academic program review, academic support service, and faculty development to name a few. In addition, the College is seizing the opportunity to become more distinctive and to strengthen programs that are central to its Quaker values, and its mission to provide a career-oriented liberal arts education. The development of new majors with professional potential and exploration of collaborative agreements for joint programs with other institutions are evidence of the energy and focus of the institution.
Wilmington’s resource strategy provides a positive investment opportunity for the future. In December of 2005, the College completed a successful comprehensive campaign of $17.2 million, which finished over goal and raised more money than the previous four campaigns combined. The campaign, with strong involvement of the President and Board of Trustees, strengthened ties with alumni and friends of the College and built a strong foundation for expanded philanthropy efforts. The College also demonstrated its wise stewardship of resources by its strategic use of funds for the construction of the Campus Village and acquisition of the College Commons to increase the capacity for residential students and increase enrollment.
As might be expected, almost every one of the eight goals and objectives of “An Agenda for Distinction” necessarily involves the advancement program, either because they require new resources, better marketing or enhanced and more effective communication with College constituencies. One goal, “To Expand Philanthropy,” focuses directly on the advancement program and provides a detailed description of the expectations of the new VPCA and of the development, alumni, and communications programs. The objectives include: 1) pursuit of the next comprehensive campaign; 2) continue to build the development program to significantly increase fundraising results; 3) explore acquiring federal funding; 4) expand and strengthen the College’s donor base; 5) create and maintain an effective outreach program; 6) develop a priority list for facilities expansion and 7) strengthen communication with constituents and improve the promotion of the College’s image. Work toward these objectives is actively underway.
The President, the interim Vice President for College Advancement and the Board, with the assistance of campaign counsel, are currently involved in early planning for a substantially larger campaign, which will include raising funds for a science building, an athletic/recreational facility, and building the endowment. The interim VPCA, on leave from his position as a trustee, not only brings expertise and energy to the position but reflects the strong and supportive involvement of the Board in the goal to expand philanthropy.
The opportunity for the next VPCA is significant. The infrastructure for successful development and advancement operations is in place, the willingness of the campus community to be part of the next comprehensive campaign is genuine and significant, and the commitment of the President and Board of Trustees to the success of the College in the future is unquestioned. The goals of the next comprehensive campaign, when achieved, will transform the living and learning environment of Wilmington College. The College is looking for a partner in the next VPCA who derives satisfaction from seeing the impact of her/his work on the success of educating students for the future.
In summary, the VPCA is responsible for providing leadership of the College’s advancement program, and advice and support to the President and Board to help the College realize its agenda for expanding philanthropy.
Currently, the Office of Advancement has a staff of 13 and the following staff members report directly to the VPCA: Director of Development, Director of Alumni Relations, Director of Advancement Services, and Director of Public Relations.
DEVELOPMENT: Wilmington has just completed a successful $17,000,000 comprehensive campaign, the largest in school history and is about to embark on a $40,000,000 comprehensive campaign. The Director of Development leads a team consisting of Directors of Leadership Giving, Planned Giving (vacant, but in the hiring process), Annual Giving, and Athletic Development. Last year contributions to the Annual Fund exceeded $1,000,000 for the first time in the College’s history. Faculty/staff giving rates have been steadily increasing to the 72% range. Alumni giving is in the 14% range and needs to be improved as does parent/student giving which is in the 11% range.
This fiscal year the total gifts goal for the College is $3,550,000. An additional goal is to increase alumni loyalty to 18%. Wilmington has already received a $1,000,000 gift from an alumnus and a $500,000 gift from the parent of an alumnus for one of the proposed capital items in the next campaign. Requests for funding from corporate or private foundations have been modestly successful over the past several years but additional work and leadership in this area from the new Vice President will be important as the College enters into the next comprehensive campaign. Additionally, fund raising to help develop new educational initiatives and research opportunities is an area for which expansion will be necessary over the next several years.
Athletics are also a strong part of the Wilmington community. The women’s soccer coach is also a member of the development staff and leads all athletic fundraising. The athletic director and coaches, when asked, assist in contacting former athletes about various projects in their sport which need additional funding. The athletic personnel will play an even greater role as we start a campaign to add to the athletic facilities.
ALUMNI RELATIONS: The Director has one secretary to assist her. However, development officers are present at all alumni events to assist welcoming alumni and friends. Over the course of a year, over 1,200 alumni will attend one or more of 18 campus events or one or more of 20 off campus events all over the country. The highlights are homecoming and alumni weekend. The Director has an Alumni Council of 12 very active members who assist in all activities.
ADVANCEMENT SERVICES: The Director has one administrative assistant/gift recorder to assist in analyzing data, summarizing gift information for the Board and senior management, and making recommendations for future fund raising efforts for the development team. The Director has recently participated in upgrading the administrative reporting system, recommending additional software to make report writing easier and more useful, and hiring a wealth screening company to assist in identifying potential donors.
PUBLIC RELATIONS: The Director has 3 direct reports, a sports information director, a graphic designer, and a public relations assistant. The Director is responsible for all publications of the College, which totaled more than 225 last year, and is also responsible for the alumni magazine, the Link, which is of the highest quality. In addition, the department produced over 3,500 public information stories and oversees the website which had over 700,000 visits last year.
The successful candidate will have proven experience in strengthening comprehensive development programs, planning and managing comprehensive fundraising campaigns, working with major donors, expanding donor bases, extending outreach programs to alumni, parents, students and friends and strengthening communications so that College constituents and the public better understand Wilmington’s mission, values and achievements. The new VPCA must be able to effectively communicate the Wilmington College story to its various publics. A member of the President’s Council, the VPCA also works collaboratively with other members of the leadership team to ensure that the College is working together to engage and build productive relationships with the key constituents. Thus, the College seeks an energetic and knowledgeable individual to provide strong leadership to College Advancement. Preferable key qualities of this individual will include:
A bachelor's degree is required, and a master's degree is preferred.
Nominations and expressions of interest may be submitted electronically in total confidence. Applications and nominations will be reviewed beginning December 1, 2007, but will be open until the position is filled. The search committee has scheduled time to conduct neutral site interviews with semi-finalists on January 28 and 29, 2008. The President hopes to make an appointment in Spring, 2008 after finalist interviews on campus.
Application materials should include: 1) a letter of interest that addresses the leadership characteristics noted above, 2) a resume, and 3) the names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of five references. References will not be contacted without first securing the permission of the candidate. Application and nomination materials should be submitted electronically (MS Word format) to:
Wilmingtonvpca@academic-search.com
Assisting the search committee is:
Judith Ward, Senior Consultant
Academic Search, Inc.
Judith.ward@academic-search.com
(202) 332-4049 (office)
202-215-8519 (mobile)
Additional information about the College may be found at www2.wilmington.edu.
Wilmington College is an Equal Opportunity Employerand encourages applications from people of all backgrounds.