The Daily Bulletin Archive

Coming to Buffalo State is something of a homecoming for Susanne P. Bair, the new vice president for institutional advancement and development.

Bair, a native of Indiana, attended Indiana State University. “Like Buffalo State,” she said, “Indiana State started out as a normal school and then became a teachers college. It’s comparable in size, too—about 12,000 students. And at that point in my life I was focused on becoming a public school teacher and coach. But Buffalo State is much more diverse, and I find that appealing.”

However, what really attracted her was the college’s mission. Bair was the first person in her family to go to college, and the fact that Buffalo State attracts such students and offers them the opportunities that Bair herself enjoyed was a powerful inducement. Raising money to benefit these particular students also attracted Bair. “My parents didn’t have a lot of money,” she said. “If I had not received scholarships, I could not have attended college.”

Once she visited campus, Bair found another reason to like the college: the Midwest flavor of Buffalo Niagara.

“People told me, ‘Buffalo is the beginning of the Midwest,’” she said. “I didn’t quite understand what that meant until I interviewed here, and then I found out it was true. I felt comfortable here, and that really matters when you’re moving to a new place.”

Bair is looking forward to working with President Muriel Howard. “She wants to see Institutional Advancement move forward,” said Bair, “and I’m looking forward to doing some exciting things.”

Bair began her career in higher education as a doctoral student serving as administrative assistant to the associate athletic director for women’s sports at Indiana University Bloomington. After a brief stint at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) as associate athletic director, she returned to Indiana University, this time as associate director of development and external affairs for the Indiana University Bloomington School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER). By the time she left HPER as an assistant dean and director of development and external affairs, she had created the strategy for a major academic endowment campaign, solicited gifts to endow six faculty chairs and professorships, and secured the largest gift in the school’s history—$1.7 million.

Later, as vice president of development for the Indiana University Foundation, Bair was responsible for supervising a staff of about 100 people and a budget of $6 million. During her tenure, private gifts increased from $108.1 million to $121.4 million, and the number of donors hit a record—105,977, up from 100,795 the previous year.

It is perhaps not surprising that Bair came to Buffalo State from Indiana University by way of a detour. When illness touched her family, Bair decided to put her talents as a fundraiser to work in the health-care industry. But she missed education. “I’ve been in education all my life,” she said. “I started out as a public school teacher. I liked health care a lot, but I decided the best thing for me was to get back into education.”

The fact that Buffalo State is a smaller school is one of the features that Bair found attractive. “Buffalo State’s size really appeals to me,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get to know people on a personal, one-to-one basis.”

Bair is also eager to work with the Buffalo State College Foundation Board of Directors and the board of the Alumni Association. She is already impressed with their strength. “The members are busy people who make time to serve because they care very much about this college,” she said.

What can the campus community expect to see under Bair’s leadership?

“You have to be strategic about the fundraising process,” said Bair. “For example, here at Buffalo State, we are really focused on raising scholarship dollars. We are also looking to increase our alumni participation rate. So we will be implementing a project that addresses both of these concerns using a telephone program to solicit gifts from alumni who have never donated to us. Each dollar they give will be matched, dollar for dollar, by a $50,000 challenge grant with the total amount used for scholarships.”

The biggest change the campus will see is the presence of a major gift officer in each of the college’s five schools and University College. Major gift officers will work directly with deans and faculty to identify prospective donors. Gift officers will then partner with units on the cultivation and solicitation process. Metrics will be applied to the process to ensure greater accountability and to increase outcomes. “We will be working much harder to reconnect our alumni to Buffalo State,” said Bair.

Bair sees this strategy as a collaborative process that facilitates the flow of information among development, faculty, staff, and alumni. “Ultimately,” said Bair, “what’s most important is that we all work together to make Buffalo State College the best college it can be.”