Top national fund-raising strategist to lead Fresno State campaign

Marry Ann Dunn

One of the nation's top fund-raising strategists will join the University Advancement team at California State University , Fresno as the university begins planning the largest campaign in its history to attract private giving.

Mary Anna Dunn will be Fresno State 's first campaign director, and will oversee a multi-year fund-raising effort to improve the overall excellence of the university as Fresno State approaches its centennial in 2011.  

Dunn will work within Fresno State 's Division of University Advancement, which oversees all the university's fund raising, communications, alumni programs and advancement services such as data management and donor accounting.   University Advancement is headed by Vice President Peter Smits.

Dunn's first day will be Feb. 2, 2004 .

Dunn was the chief strategist and leader of the recent billion-dollar campaign for the University of Colorado , a four-campus system. The campaign was successfully completed in June 2003.   She was also a key player in Colorado 's first comprehensive campaign (1987-93), which raised more than $270 million.

"I am extremely pleased Mary Anna is coming to Fresno to lead a fund-raising campaign that will help move our campus to a new level of academic achievement and national recognition," said Fresno State President John D. Welty.  

"Ms. Dunn is one of the most highly regarded fund-raising professionals in the United States . Most importantly, she understands Fresno State 's role as a regional university that is helping to lead Central California 's economic and cultural development, while providing

needed support for Fresno State students and for the work of our faculty."

Smits said Dunn's expertise is a "perfect fit" for the campaign.

" Fresno State 's success over the past 10 years has been extraordinary, as shown by the completion of the Save Mart Center , the Smittcamp Alumni House, the Smittcamp Family Honors College , the Kremen School of Education, the Downing Planetarium and numerous other projects.

"All of us are very proud that donors see the value and importance of Fresno State and are making such strong personal commitments to the university. Mary Anna Dunn will help us dramatically build on that success," said Smits.

Work on the multi-year fund-raising campaign at has been under way for almost two years.   Faculty members have been identifying major academic goals for the campaign and university administrators have been conducting meetings with community leaders to begin to rally support for the effort.  

Dunn's appointment is the first major hire for the campaign, which will continue to add employees as the effort gets under way.

" Fresno State is a fine university with worthy aspirations," Dunn said, "and is poised to realize its potential.   For me, the campaign directorship is a wonderful opportunity to apply my experience and help to make a difference.    

"Campaign success is always the product of teamwork, involving university leaders, volunteers and staff.   I look forward to joining the dynamic team already in place and helping to build for the future.   Ahead of us, we have challenge, fun, hard work and excitement-and success," she said.

The campaign is supported through the Fresno State Foundation and the university's endowment as well as other non-state sources.   The university has not yet detailed the exact financial goal of the campaign, but it is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Fresno State Foundation Board President and Superior Court Judge Robert Oliver said the start of the campaign signals a new era at the university.  

"The Save Mart Center is the most recent example of what the people of Central California can do working in concert with the university," Oliver said.  

"Many significant improvements at Fresno State - including some of the finest academic facilities and university athletic facilities in the country - have been provided through private donors.   The new campaign is going to dramatically accelerate that progress."  

Since 1992, Dunn served as the executive and senior vice president for development at the University of Colorado Foundation .   In those roles she managed development staff members throughout the University of Colorado system, and directed the university's corporate and foundation relations, major gifts, annual fund, development research, data and technology management, gift and records processing, stewardship and planned giving.

Previously, she served for 13 years in other foundation positions,   including vice president for development   for the flagship Boulder campus, vice president of annual giving for the system, and director of development in the College of Arts and Sciences at Boulder .

Early in her career, Dunn served as assistant to the Chancellor for University Relations at the University of Maryland University College and as a lecturer in composition and literature.  

She also has served as an instructor in English as a Foreign Language at the Tokyo English Center in Japan and an English teacher in Illinois .

Dunn has won numerous honors for her work in educational and collegiate fund raising.   Under her leadership the University of Colorado Foundation won the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education's (CASE) highly regarded "Circle of Excellence Award for Overall Performance" in 2002 and CASE's "Circle of Excellence Award for Overall Improvement" in 1998 and 1999.   She also won CASE's "gold" award in fund-raising communications.

Dunn earned a master's degree in English literature from the University of Colorado and her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in the teaching of English.   She earned Phi Beta Kappa honors at Northwestern.