“Excited!”
“Thrilled!”
These are the comments of Courtney Marshall when offered the position of President and CEO of our Association. Courtney accepted immediately knowing that this was a position that would use her experience and knowledge extensively.
The association staff, the search committee, the executive committee, the board of directors, and the rest of the university (including myself) echoed the same exuberance. The echoes appear to be growing louder instead of fading.
Capitalizing on this momentum, the board voted to hire Patouillet Consulting to perform a program review of the association. This will provide the basis for a strategic plan based on best practices. The consultant was on campus in the last few weeks interviewing association staff, the deans, President Bardo and the President’s Executive Team, alumni board members, WSU Foundation representatives, and past chairs as available and as time allowed. As a part of this, Lindsey Loftus of Patouillet led two workshops attended by association staff, board members, and Foundation representatives.
This experience will be invaluable in moving forward quickly. The word out of the workshops is that everyone was gaining a significant amount of understanding and becoming more comfortable with the role of the WSU Alumni Association.
There are many people to thank for their assistance and patience over the last six months, and this includes everyone mentioned in this message. Our association’s executive committee members are great and work well together, drawing on each other’s strengths to keep the association moving forward. The staff, too, has been phenomenal.
They have continually helped each other, when appropriate pointed out the errors of my thinking, reassured my doubt, been cheerful, resilient, and most of all willing to put forth the effort to advance the Wichita State University Alumni Association. Please let them know you appreciate them.
Rockin’ the Roundhouse is another indicator of the staff’s efforts. Without a president and other staff members, they were able to put together another fun, memorable and successful event. Many other volunteers made sure this event was successful as well. I hope you were there and had a blast.
There is no doubt that a significant amount of work lies ahead. Years from now, it is my hope that we are still “Excited!” and “Thrilled!” — and continue to grow louder as we move forward. Go Shocks!
The Wichita State University Alumni Association has hired Courtney M. Marshall as its new president and CEO. “I’m thrilled to be beginning a new Shocker chapter in my alumni relations career,” Marshall said, adding, “I am looking forward to getting to know the individual faces of Shocker Nation.”
An alumni relations and university advancement professional, Marshall most recently served as major gift development officer for the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State. A K-State journalism graduate, Marshall previously was director of membership and student alumni advisor at the Texas Tech Alumni Association, and, from 2007 through 2010, was director of alumni relations at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan.
Her alumni relations experience also features a stint from 2004 to 2007 as executive director of the University of South Dakota Alumni Association, where she oversaw the association’s outreaches to more than 50,000 alumni worldwide.
Marshall begins her WSUAA duties Jan. 1, 2015.
