For Immediate Release

Contact:    
Debra Humphreys, Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs
humphreys@aacu.org
202.387.3760, ext. 422

AAC&U Announces Appointment of Lisa Russell O’Shea as New Senior Director of Development

O’Shea Will Join AAC&U’s Senior Staff To Coordinate Advancement Efforts and Develop National Leadership for Liberal Education Leading Up
to AAC&U’s Centennial in 2015

Washington, DC—May 23, 2011—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced today the appointment of Lisa Russell O’Shea as its new senior director of development. O’Shea will begin work at AAC&U on July 5, 2011, moving into the position from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, where she serves as the director of program development.

In her new role, O’Shea will play a central role in designing and implementing a fundraising strategy to support AAC&U’s continued advancement of liberal education and inclusive excellence.  She will manage several key AAC&U fundraising initiatives, including major and planned giving and corporate sponsorships. In the context of AAC&U’s 2015 centennial, she also will provide leadership for AAC&U’s Leadership Fund for Liberal Education, and coordinate fundraising efforts in support of AAC&U’s major initiative, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) and AAC&U’s related work on civic learning for democratic engagement at home and abroad.

“Lisa Russell O’Shea understands AAC&U’s history and is committed to its mission of expanding the benefits of an engaged and public-spirited liberal education to all students,” said AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider. “She brings a wealth of development and advancement experience to AAC&U and I am confident AAC&U’s members will be served well by her ability to articulate our values and key commitments to donors and other stakeholders.”

“I am delighted to be joining AAC&U as it approaches its centennial anniversary of advocating for the value of liberal education,” said O’Shea. “We all benefit in the long run when students have deeper and richer learning experiences, and I look forward to helping AAC&U cultivate and steward donors who see the value to society of an inclusive liberal education. ”

O’Shea joined The Johns Hopkins Institutions in 1995, initially serving as the director of development research for six years.  She spent the next four years as the founding director of institutional donor relations before moving to the School of Nursing.  In her donor relations role, she created comprehensive stewardship plans for 1,475 donors of $100,000 or more who support a variety of important priorities at JHU and the hospitals.  At the School of Nursing, Lisa had a wide portfolio and was responsible for raising nearly $8 million in gifts and pledges.

O’Shea received her B.A. in the history of ideas from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and her M.A. from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the Johns Hopkins Institutions, she was assistant to the president for special projects at Princeton University and a preceptor in Princeton’s Department of Religion, and she taught introductory philosophy at Towson University in Maryland.

About AAC&U

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises more than 1,200 member institutions-including accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.