On Monday, we'll welcome our new vice president for University Advancement, J. Mark Hutchins, who will join the TTU administration July 17, and who says he thinks the opportunity will be a unique privilege.

J. Mark Hutchins

“I love working in advancement services because of the way it connects alumni, donors and university friends to faculty, staff and students,” says Hutchins. “Those donors and potential donors have dreams for improving the institution, and helping them achieve those dreams in turn directly helps faculty, staff and students.”

Hutchins comes to TTU from Murray State University in Murray, Ky., where he’s served for three and a half years as associate vice president for Institutional Advancement.

That institution’s enrollment is comparable in size to TTU’s.

In his role there, Hutchins supervised all facets of fund raising for the university. He’s helped to reorganize the operational structure of advancement services, to implement online giving, to increase gift income by 50 percent in a year and to raise the largest individual gift in Murray State’s history.

Hutchins’ entire career, in fact, has been devoted to higher education, and specifically to various aspects of advancement services.

Prior to his position at Murray State, he served as vice president for Institutional Advancement and interim president at Wood College in Mathiston, Miss., and before that as director of annual giving at Mississippi State University in Starkville.

“I’ve enjoyed making a career out of this because I love being a part of the campus community, and I have a passion for helping students,” Hutchins says.

At TTU, his duties will include managing, directing, coordinating and supervising a comprehensive institutional advancement program that is made up of fund raising, foundation development, alumni relations, public information, photographic services, graphic arts and government relations.

As chief development officer, he will cultivate and solicit selected donor prospects, particularly among major corporations, foundations and individuals, with the goal of generating large gifts for the university.

“I believe my administrative experience, advancement success and educational background fit well with the qualities TTU is seeking for this position,” Hutchins says.

As an active member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Hutchins has made presentations at various state and district CASE meetings and has served as a faculty member for the CASE National Conference on Annual Giving.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in business, with a minor in social science, and a master’s degree in human relations and supervision from Louisiana Tech University, and he is pursuing a doctorate in public policy and administration from Mississippi State University. He also holds the designation of Certified Fund Raising Executive.

He is married to the former Elizabeth Lipscomb from McComb, Miss., and the couple has two daughters, Jan Kathryn, 11, and Claudia McCabe, 8. Some of his personal interests include attending collegiate athletics events, coaching his daughters in basketball and softball, hunting, fishing, traveling and playing various musical instruments, including the saxophone, clarinet and mountain dulcimer.