{"id":20985,"date":"2023-10-10T15:17:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T15:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=20985"},"modified":"2026-01-18T18:15:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T18:15:34","slug":"macalester-welcomes-alumna-joanna-e-curtis-as-the-colleges-new-vice-president-for-advancement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/macalester-welcomes-alumna-joanna-e-curtis-as-the-colleges-new-vice-president-for-advancement\/","title":{"rendered":"Macalester welcomes alumna Joanna E. Curtis as the college\u2019s new Vice President for Advancement"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 10, 2023\u2013 Today, President Suzanne M. Rivera announced that Joanna E. Curtis \u201997 will become Macalester\u2019s next Vice President for Advancement and a member of the college\u2019s Senior Leadership Team. A 20-year fundraising veteran, she comes from the University of Memphis where she spent 15 years in Advancement, most recently as the Vice President for Advancement. Her first day in her new role is November 6. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an exciting time at Macalester as we plan our next fundraising campaign in support of the college\u2019s strategic plan and comprehensive campus plan. Having Joanna\u2019s extensive leadership and advancement expertise will be enormously helpful as we embark on this journey,\u201d said President Rivera. \u201cShe has set fundraising records at her previous institution, and has a proven history securing transformational gifts. The fact that she is a Mac alumna means she comes to us not only with professional savvy, but also with a very authentic personal experience upon which to draw.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curtis was hired following a national search led by co-chairs Dr. Shilad Sen and Sara Suelflow \u201988 P\u201926, \u201926. Members of the search committee included: Dr. Lisa Anderson-Levy P\u201923, Donnie Brooks, Kim Cole \u201996, Aisha Gonzalez, Dr. Andrea Kaston Tange P\u201926, Andrew Kaufteil \u201901, Reagan Kimzey \u201924, Gary Martin, Dr. Paul Olson \u201972, Dr. Andy Overman, and Sophia Salinas \u201924.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe search committee was impressed by Joanna’s storytelling about the Macalester experience, her history of innovative fundraising approaches, and her expertise in engaging in equity-centered fundraising practices,\u201d said Dr. Shilad Sen, who co-chaired the search committee.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am delighted to welcome Joanna back to Macalester, and look forward to working with her in strengthening support for the college’s future,\u201d said search committee co-chair Sara Suelflow \u201988.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her most recent role at the University of Memphis, Joanna led a team of 50 and was responsible for academic fundraising for 13 colleges and schools, as well as alumni engagement and volunteer management. She served on the President\u2019s Council and worked closely with the Board of Trustees on fundraising strategy and counsel. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be returning to my alma mater to lead the advancement team at such a pivotal moment for the college,\u201d said Curtis. \u201cFor me, this is the pinnacle of my more than two decade career in fundraising and higher education. The new strategic plan promotes values and priorities that I believe in, and I look forward to engaging more alumni and community members in the life of the college to advance the plan.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curtis is active in her community and in her profession. She is a cabinet member for District 3 for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and, in 2020, she was named Outstanding Fundraising Executive by the Memphis chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She is a board member for the Madonna Learning Center and, in 2019, she was named a Superwoman in Business by the Memphis Business Journal. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A member of the Macalester College class of 1997, Curtis graduated with a double major in history and religious studies and a minor in communication studies. She earned her master\u2019s in Public Administration from the University of Memphis, and is a CFRE International Certified Fundraising Executive.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and her husband Chris Herrington <\/span>\u2019<\/span>96, a journalist, have two children and three rescue dogs.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joanna E. Curtis \u201997 will become Macalester\u2019s next Vice President for Advancement and a member of the college\u2019s Senior Leadership Team. She will begin her new role in November 2023.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":20987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-newswire","mediatype-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"fields":{"article_type":[8],"flickr_photoset_id":"","youtube_id":"","square_thumbnail":false,"press_photos":false,"story_title":"","story_caption":"","rotations":false,"maps":false,"marker_title":"","marker_text":"","geographic_location":false,"feature_embed":"","custom_link_url":"","news_icon_name":"","image_options":false,"main_feature_story":"","custom_image":false,"custom_feature_title":"","custom_feature_caption":"","custom_markup":"","custom_markup_link":"","custom_markup_title":"","custom_markup_caption":"","byline":"","post_thumbnail_style":"default","press_downloads":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20985"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29991,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20985\/revisions\/29991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}