November 15, 2002  NR 20-02

The University of Alaska has named a new Associate Vice President for Development to provide leadership and coordination for UA private fund-raising efforts, President Mark Hamilton said today.

Mary Rutherford, a former resident of Fairbanks, comes to the new position from the University of Idaho, where she was Director of Development for the College of Business and Economics. She assumed the duties of her new UA position on November 1.

The new position was created as the result of a three-year $500,000 grant from the Anchorage-based Rasmuson Foundation as part of a project to increase private giving to the University of Alaska system. The new Associate Vice President will work closely with the fundraising offices at the three main campuses of the university and help to coordinate their efforts across the university system.

"Mary has an impressive record with alumni relations, fund-raising and managing capital campaigns," Hamilton said. "She will help the University of Alaska place increased emphasis on developing a strong, unified program of private financial support."

An honor graduate of Lathrop High School, Rutherford attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks studying Travel Industry Management. She worked as a visitor information aide at the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau and was promoted to the director of convention sales and services. Rutherford relocated to the Lewiston, Idaho/Clarkston, Washington area where she spent six years in the tourism industry before becoming the executive director of the Tri-State Hospital Foundation in Clarkston.

Rutherford attended Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, where she received a bachelor’s degree in business management. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree in philanthropic studies at Indiana University. She is a graduate of the National Planned Giving Institute at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is also a Certified Fund Raising Executive.

A photograph of Mary Rutherford is available at www.alaska.edu/opa/rutherford.jpg (right click or control click and 'save image as').

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Bob Miller, 907-474-6311