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August 16, 2002
School of Business
faculty thank interim dean
for a job well done
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Ellen Paxton |
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. —
As a student a decade ago, Ellen
Paxton learned first hand what Indiana State University’s School
of Business has to offer.
Now,
as the school’s official cheerleader and fund-raiser, she’ll be
spreading the word to businesses, foundations and alumni.
Paxton, who
graduated in 1993 with a major in physical education-sports studies
and a business minor, is the Business School’s new director of
development. She comes to Indiana State from Radford University in
Virginia, where she was director of annual giving for the past two
years. A native of Guatemala, she previously worked at Wabash
College in Crawfordsville.
“I understand,
through not only my work as a student but as an [alumna] and staying
in touch with ISU that the School of Business is held in very high
regard and there is a still a lot of potential to be reached
there,” said Paxton.
And the school can
no longer rely solely on the state to help it meet that potential.
Twenty years ago,
the university received 90 percent of its budget from state funds,
but the state’s share has since fallen to 67 percent, according to
Dave Hopkins, senior associate vice-president for academic affairs.
“If we’re going
to enhance quality, we’ve got to find other revenue streams to do
the things we want to do,” said Hopkins, who served as interim
dean of the School of Business during the 2001-2002 academic year.
“The university
and the state have done a very good job of providing support for the
School of Business, but mainly those funds are there to help sustain
what we’ve been able to develop,” said Ron Green, the Business
School’s new dean.
“We’re seeing a
national trend in terms of state assisted institutions,” said
Paxton. “They’re no longer state supported, they are state
assisted and private support is becoming more important every day
– not only to enhance the programs that are going on but to
maintain them at a particular level.”
Outside funding
“is not just icing on the cake any more. This is really about
maintaining the quality of the core course work and what the school
of business stands for,” she added. “Those are the kinds of
messages that I plan to carry when I have conversations with
businesses, corporations, foundations and alumni about how truly
essential it is to contribute back to Indiana State.”
But Paxton will
also make sure the community knows what the School of Business has
to offer.
“We’re not
simply looking for donors to provide benevolent gifts to the
university,” said Green. “We have many things in the School of
Business that provide a service to the community and she’ll be
able to talk about those things and show in a positive light all of
the good things that we’re doing. Certainly we have a number of
faculty and administrators within the school who are active
externally but this will be her full-time job.”
Paxton vows to work
hard to get faculty into the community more “to talk about the
great projects that they’re involved in, to consult with different
businesses and share their expertise with people in the community
and in the region. We want to work with the admissions office and
career services in helping them place students in internships.”
Paxton wants those
who invest in the School of Business to know “how we can pay them
back in terms of sending them our students and our alumni that are
going to be very qualified for positions in their businesses. I’m
very excited about the opportunity to come back to my alma mater and
be able to serve in that capacity. I’m very much looking forward
to it.”
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Contact:
Ellen Paxton, director of development, School of Business,
(812) 237-8514 or epaxton@indstate.edu
Writer:
Dave Taylor, assistant director of Public Affairs
(812) 237-3743 or devtaylo@isugw.indstate.edu
ISU
Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu