Jill Grammer Joins Naropa as VP for Development and External Relations 

Will oversee strategic fundraising and external relations program

BOULDER, Colo. (December 2, 2010)—Naropa University is pleased to announce that Jill Grammer will join the staff as the vice president for development and external relations. She has nearly twenty years of higher education management and development experience and comes to Naropa from New Mexico State University where she was the executive director and director of development for the Center for the Arts and former Assistant Dean of External Relations for the NMSU Honors College.

“We are very pleased to have Jill Grammer join Naropa, and we welcome her as a part of our academic family,” said Dr. Stuart Lord, the president of Naropa University. “She will be an integral part of the university’s journey to ‘deliver distinction with excellence’ and develop strategic fundraising and external relations programs.”

Grammer brings outstanding experience to the position. As the executive director of development for the arts at New Mexico State, she oversaw a $150 million multi‐phase Center for the Arts Capital Campaign project. Prior to being dean of external affairs, she was a senior gifts officer at the New Mexico State Foundation and a major gifts officer for the College of Business. From 1993 to 2001, Grammer was the assistant dean for external affairs for the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University.

“I want to build a steadfast fundraising program that is based on long‐term relationships with students, alumni, faculty, staff, community, and corporate friends,” said Jill Grammer. “Nurturing a donor’s passion for what Naropa University represents to them and creating an environment where they will want to give of their time, talent and treasure is key to the university’s success and continuing legacy.”

The position reports to the president and serves as a member of the senior cabinet. She will oversee a staff of 11 in the areas of development, marketing, and communications. Naropa University experienced its best fundraising year in 2009-2010, despite rough economic times.

Naropa is a liberal arts university nationally recognized for its unique mission of providing contemplative education. Founded in 1974 by a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, it is the only fully accredited Buddhist-inspired university in the country. The mission of the University is to create an institution that combines contemplative studies with traditional Western scholastic and artistic disciplines. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Naropa offers 11 undergraduate and 12 graduate programs, as well as several distance learning and extended studies programs.

 

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