Q-and-A with the Advancement team
These fun introductions to your Advancement team come from one of our small semi-monthly publications, the "E-News is Good News" newsletter. From each edition, we'll add two more team members to this page.
Q-and-A's, thus far |
Donna Breshears
Donna Breshears is the executive assistant to University Advancement’s executive director.
Q: You recently won a spelling bee and advanced to the state competition in Salina.
A: It was the first annual Lyon County Senior Spelling Bee, and the winner of that proceeds to Salina – which I did, but I bombed out royally!
Q: What word got you to Salina, and what word tripped you up?
A: I had to spell ‘irreparable’ correctly and then spell the next word correctly, and I spelled ‘inestimable.’ Now, Salina was horrible. The word turned out to be “atoll,” but the pronunciation sounded like “addle.” I lost!
Q: What are your duties as executive assistant?
A: First of all, I’m the assistant to Judy Heasley, for all of her duties. I’m also the corporate secretary for the Foundation Board of Trustees. I sign legal documents, take minutes for the board, handle any paperwork, and more. I supervise the student building manager and Corky the mascot– I even take the uniform home to wash it. I’m also a member of the Classified Assembly.
Q: What is your professional background?
A: I came to ESU in November 2004, to the Teachers College, to work for the chair of elementary education and as the associate dean’s secretary. Before then, I was the church and financial secretary at the First Christian Church for 12 years.
Q: I hear you have some grandkids.
A: Yes! I have three children, and each one has three children, so I have nine grandchildren. Three are in Oklahoma and six are in Kansas, two boys and seven girls. You can probably tell I think a lot of all those grandkids!
Q: Lots of free time, then?
A: Well, I kind of have a second job. At the First Christian Church, I’m a chime choir director for adults, I’m the praise team director, and I fill in as organist and pianist.
Carol Cooper
Carol Cooper, director of advancement services and operations, joined the office as a bookkeeper in 1984, and is a 30-year employee of ESU.
Q: What’s your background?
A: Where do you want to start? I came to school here, met my husband, went to Germany for three years – Doug got drafted – came back to Emporia, and in 1978, started working at ESU in the business office. I’ve been in HR, went back to the business office, and then came to the Foundation as a bookkeeper.
Q: What year did you start here?
A. Carol pauses and calls Joan Lauber, alumni administrative assistant: “What year did you start here?” … 1984. We started the same year. I can always count on Joan.
Q: What is the role of advancement services in the overall mission?
A: We provide donor services—receipting, recordkeeping.
Q: Seems like you’re involved in everything that happens in this office, from Annual Fund projects to development to alumni lists.
A: You got it.
Q: How did you become interested in this field?
A: You want to know the truth? The lady that was doing the bookwork had been in an accident and was off work for six months. Nothing had been posted or reconciled. I was asked if I could help, and that’s how it all started.
Q: What is a common misconception of advancement services?
A: That we’re closed in the summer! No, we really don’t have down time. We always have alumni to search for, we always have projects. Our first priority is to receipt gifts with a two-day turnaround. We also work a lot with departments and organizations wanting to reach their alumni, providing them with mailing lists.
Q: You’ve spent a couple years now shifting our database to Banner, a new software system. Can you say “Banner” without cringing?
A; I think we have it running smoothly, but we still face challenges. We aren’t done. We haven’t completed alumni self-service, and we have a lot of components we haven’t implemented yet.
Q: Your hobbies?
A: Sports, scrapbooking, ESU basketball, softball and baseball. We have two sons, 32 and 27, with our first grandchild on the way!
Blake Davis
Blake Davis is the associate director for annual programs. He started in October 2007.
Q: Some people might not know what “Annual Fund” means.
A: The Annual Fund is a combination of all the annual giving efforts – through direct mail, the call center, the faculty and staff campaign, and more. It is the backbone of the university’s fundraising efforts, providing dollars for most aspects of campus.
Q: What is the overall purpose of the Annual Fund?
A: I like to think of the term “alma mater,” which actually means “nourishing mother.” We want to be a family support system to our students. And once you leave Emporia State, you’re a part of our family.”
Q: You’re developing the Black and Gold Society, a membership-based presidential giving group. What kind of opportunity does this represent for ESU’s alumni and friends?
A: The society is a chance to interact with the ESU president and other leaders on the ground level as they develop major projects, and to impact students through the society’s scholars program. It’s a society for people who feel truly invested in the mission of Emporia State University.
Q: You are a Kansas native, so I hear that you were glad to come back.
A: Absolutely. I’m from a little bit of everywhere in Kansas. I graduated from high school in Smith Center, and I’m a University of Kansas graduate. I was at George Mason University in Virginia for awhile, and I’m happy to be back. There’s an atmosphere here that you can only find in the Midwest.
Q: You’ve been here four weeks. What have you learned about ESU?
A: I’ve learned that the university produces some of the best teachers in the state and nation, and that the university is centered on students. I’ve also learned that the people I work with are very appreciative of everything our alumni and friends do for ESU.
Angela Fullen
Angela Fullen is the coordinator of donor relations and special events, after serving as assistant to the executive director since May 2001.
Q: What does a donor relations coordinator do?
A: Our purpose is to build relationships with alumni, donors and friends – and then to maintain those relationships through careful stewardship. We want to say “Thank you” more than just once, and say it in a variety of ways.
Q: In what “ways?”
A: I will coordinate all our special events, from gatherings at Homecoming to the White Glove Affair to scholarship luncheons. I’m really excited about the scholarship luncheon – so many new gifts have come in during the scholarship campaign, and we are working to arrange opportunities for donors to meet the ESU students for lunch. For the donor and the students, it will put a face on the gift.
Q: You’ve mentioned the importance of showing our appreciation.
A: Absolutely. From creating an atmosphere of appreciation at our special events, to sending thank-you notes and get-well cards, we want to meet our donors half way. They have given so much to Emporia State University, and we want to give back.
Judy Heasley
New leader of ESU Advancement finds her niche
The Lady Hornets’ nationally televised basketball game against Washburn in February drew more than 4,600 fans, including a new ESU leader who realized she had made the right decision.
Judith “Judy” Heasley, who days before the contest was named the executive director of University Advancement and president of the ESU Foundation, started at ESU on April 12. Back in February, she attended the ESU game with her husband, Jim. They felt an energy that few universities can muster. “It was electric,” Heasley said. “You could feel it. My husband looked at me and smiled, and we both nodded at each other.”
Heasley was attracted to ESU by its complete package – a strong academic reputation, an eager, well-staffed advancement office, and a significant endowment. Meanwhile, ESU was attracted to Heasley’s 24 years of Advancement experience. She was formerly the vice president of institutional advancement at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.
“Judy’s impressive array of skills and experience is a perfect fit for this position,” President Michael Lane said when Heasley was selected. “We are thrilled to bring her to Emporia State at a time when this university is poised for tremendous growth.”
The long drive from Durango to Emporia plenty of time to think about the new position.
It’s an exciting time to be at Emporia State, she said, with the opportunity to set a new strategic plan. Heasley’s vision includes greater outreach through alumni chapters,
building a “wish list” for needs across campus, pursuing the resources of foundations and corporations, and nurturing a team atmosphere in the Advancement office.
The self-described Western girl, having lived and worked in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Utah, is ready to adjust to the Midwest. “I think we’re really poised to do a lot of really great things,” she said.
Joan Lauber
Joan Lauber is the administrative assistant for alumni relations, and she’s been with us since 1987.
Q: Where were you before coming to the alumni office?
A: I was in the university’s business office as a cashier starting in 1984. Before that, I was a teller at Columbia Savings, which isn’t there anymore.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: Outside of Reading. I still live on the home farm, an eighth of a mile from my childhood home. I really stretched out, didn’t I? Do I like it that way? Yeah, I do.
Q: What is the role of the alumni office?
A: The Alumni Association’s by-laws talk about advancing the university’s welfare by establishing relationships between the university and its alumni. Our office does that in so many ways, from preparing for alumni events to working with the alumni board.
Q: How many alumni events are there in a year?
A: Six, eight, nine, State Fair is 10, Homecoming could be 20. Roughly 20. We also work with the Ambassadors, help them with Senior Week, E-Zone, preparing for conferences.
Q: What do you like about the job?
A: The people. People that you get to interact with, getting to know them, from Ambassadors up through alumni, and the people I work with.
Q: You enjoy working with students.
A: That’s one of the advantages of being involved with the Spotlight “Through the Years” information. We get to see them succeed. We have some that have been Outstanding Seniors and Outstanding Recent Graduates, and I anticipate that some of them will become Distinguished Alumni. It’s interesting to see them progress.
Q: What is something about the alumni office that people don’t usually know?
A: When you’ve done something this long, you just assume everybody knows everything you do! But really, maybe it’s the ages we work with. It’s working with current students – Ambassadors, students serving on the Homecoming committee – through people who graduated in the 1930s.
Q: How has the office changed over the years?
A: I’m not really sure that it has. The mission is to keep alumni connected to the university, which we do through the Spotlight, through events, sending information to them. Its purpose has stayed the same, although we do things in a different way. The State Fair booth has become a huge effort, for instance. And chapters have become more defined.
Q: When you and your husband return from vacation, there always seems to be a bowling story. Both of you compete in bowling leagues, right?
A: I can tell you, Bill’s much better than I am. I’m the handicap. He’s been carrying a 200 in the last five or six years. Me? No. … What else do I do in my down time? I play with my four grandchildren, the light of my life.
Nikki Metz
Nikki Metz is the alumni programs coordinator, and has been with the Advancement office since September 2006.
Q: Tell me about your background.
A: I earned my B.F.A. in communications from ESU in 1995, and worked at Catholic Charities for eight years before returning to ESU for an MBA. After a short time at Sprint, I became the executive director of Compeer, a local non-profit. Then the administrative duties at Compeer were merged with Big Brothers Big Sisters to conserve resources, and I came to ESU in September 2006 – two weeks before Homecoming. Trial by fire!
Q: How did your past experience prepare you for ESU?
A: Working with people. At Catholic Charities we work a lot with donors and volunteers, and I did the same thing at Compeer – where I also worked with clients and their issues. So I’ve been able to work with a wide variety of people.
Q: Is there anything about the alumni office that you didn’t expect?
A: I don’t think I’ve had any major surprises, as far as the job goes. The people are always surprising. You’re all fun to work with, and there’s something new going on every day.
Q: What’s a typical day for you?
A: Currently, I’m working on getting TAP [Teacher Appreciation Program] luncheons scheduled in the KC area. Four down, two more to go. And yesterday, we sent out one of our first electronic invitations to a KC alumni event.
Q: Tell me something about the alumni office that many people don’t fully understand.
A: Some look at the Alumni Association as raising money for the university. But that’s not all we do. We’re more focused on the connection between the university and alumni – getting them involved with their college, or in their area alumni chapter.
Q: Tell me about your family and hobbies.
A: My family is my hobby! My kids [daughters, ages 10 and 13] both swim competitively – nine meets a year, weekends on the road, three evening practices a week. I’m a Girl Scout troop leader, the PTO president and a school council member at Sacred Heart, and I try to stay on top of my girls’ schedules. My life starts after I leave work. Work is my calm time!
Trisha Ott
Trisha Ott is the chief financial officer, having served you since April 2001 as the director of fiscal affairs.
Q: What is your background?
A: My hometown is Yates Center. I came to Emporia State and earned my bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1994 and my MBA in 1996. I worked at Koch Industries in Wichita for five years before coming to the university.
Q: What do you like about your job?
A: I’ve always loved numbers, and I like working with donors and working with a lot of different people. I like variety in a job, and I also get to interact with a lot of people on campus.
Q: What is an aspect of your job that’s commonly misunderstood?
A: People think the summertime must be easy here because school isn’t in session. Summers are the worst time for me, because I have the fiscal year closing and the audit.
Q: What does the audit mean in layman’s terms?
A: It means an outside source comes in to review our books, to ensure controls were in place, to prevent fraud, to show that we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. The results this year were good – no major issues were found. They also finalize our financial statements for the year.
Q: How has your role changed in six and a half years?
A: The way we interact with other departments on campus has changed. With scholarships, with Banner [the campus-wide software system], I’m much more involved – you have to understand the big picture more. I’m also more active in our investment strategies, making more trades at the recommendation of our investment firm and the Foundation’s finance committee. When I started, we would make trades and rebalance investments two or three times a year. Now it’s monthly.
Q: What attracted you to Emporia State?
A: We wanted to raise our kids in a smaller town, and it was my alma mater, so it was a good fit.
Q: Three kids, right? And you live outside of town?
A: Perry and I have three – two sons, ages 8 and 5, and a daughter, almost 2. We live in the middle of the country. We have a Reading address, an Emporia phone number, we’re in the Hartford school district, but our kids go to Lebo.
Bob Spain
Robert Spain has served as the Center’s maintenance technician since 1998.
Q: How did you get here?
A: Believe it or not, before I got into working with the school system, I was taking classes in the ministry. But when my family needed money, I got into working with the school system there at my home town. I worked 20 years with the Chase County district. Then, when I quit working there in 1993, Bill Hartman said he could set me up with a job here when I was available. After several years of taking care of an elderly uncle – he was like a father to me - when he finally went to the nursing home, Bill said, come on down. I've been here are the alumni center for almost ten years. I've been very happy.
Q: What is your role here?
I'm the maintenance deck for the alumni center, for the foundation. I'm kinda unique on campus – I'm the only one that's custodian and maintenance all rolled into one. Maintenance technician – whatever Judy wants, I do. It's a lot of responsibility, but I enjoy it. Theres' always something different that's going to happen.
Q: What's a common misconception?
There are some people on campus that think I'm just like a building services custodian. I'm doing groundskeeping, minor carpentry, electrics - in addition to keeping everything neat and clean. There's a lot of days there's not enough of me to go around.
Q: What do you take home?
A: A good sense of accomplishment that I know we've put on a good face for the university. This is the first year I've worked during Homecoming, during the post-game reception. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. I feel it's my duty to keep everything in as good shape as possible to present ourselves to the community. I take a fair amount of pride in keeping things up so that people will say, “hey, wow, they really have their act together.”
Q: Where is home for you?
A: Strong city- I've lived my whole life out there on a little farm outside town. Now I live there with my wife, and that's where we're going to stay. I'm a military historian - I'm a history nut. I grew up hearing the war stories from family memories and friends from the second world War, and I was fascinated. Since my family on my mother's side comes from Germany, I got an interesting side of things.
Katy Werly
Katie Werly has worked in data entry since August of 2006.
Q: What's your background? Are you an Emporia native?
A: A: Born and raised. Born at Newman's Hospital, 2 days and 28 years ago. My parents are from Eureka, and they both went to school here. I don't see myself ever leaving the area, either. I've only had two other jobs – 7 years of McDonald's and 4 years of Lyon County State Bank – and now I'm here. I always wanted to work at the college, and everyone said it was a nice place to work. My sister-in-law works here, not here at the Center but on campus, and she told me there was an opening.
Q: What was your first day on the job?
A: August of '06 – nervous as hell. I remember Carol put me on the computer, changing addresses. The Spotlight return addresses, there were like 1200 of them – this big stack – and Carol put me on them, a nice way to train doing address changes. And I still do them now. Coming from 12 years of customer service – it was a nice break. Nobody yells at me here.
Q: What's your role in Advancement?
To know where alumni are, where they move, keeping people connected to the university. If you lose their address, they're more or less gone. “Database integrity,” I think is what they call it – making sure the records are all up to date, that we can track alumni and find them – and then obviously all the work with the donations. It's pretty much the same every day, until l we get one that we don't know what it is or where it's from. Then you just start asking people questions. If it's across campus, you run across campus.
Q: What's a common misconception?
A: That we sit downstairs and eat all day, because we're right next to the kitchen. And seeing us at the computer all day, they think we can't be doing anything but checking our e-mail. We're working, really, we swear!
Q: The best thing you take home?
A: I would say – no stress. I keep going back to that – but it's a good feeling, knowing that I can leave work at work. Plus, it's nice to get along with everyone you work with, with no arguing. Some people probably couldn't do it, though – it's the same thing every day. Very detail-oriented – you have to pay attention to details, or you could screw a lot of stuff up. But it's nice to find someone you haven't been able to find for a while and think, “this one could be our next million-dollar donor!”
Q: And at home?
A: We had a daughter, she's six months old – all of my off-work time is sitting and staring at her. Watching her grow up is kinda neat. I'm totally in love with her – we sit and play. It's the highlight of my day. Makes it a lot easier. My last job was a very high-stress job – I can't imagine how that would be. There's a lot of people here to ask advice about family stuff, and they really care. I want to be a stay-at-home mom, but the people here would be hard to leave – they take care of you pretty good. We all get along really well.
Last Updated August 31, 2009