Eastern welcomes Martin
Bob Martin is coming to Eastern at a time of economic uncertainty.
“It’s a sense of urgency that all universities are faced with,” Martin said. “It means the development side is more important than ever. We have to build up an endowment for now and later years to weather this storm.”
President Bill Perry announced his decision to hire Martin as vice president for university advancement Dec. 22. Martin currently serves as the assistant vice president for development at Auburn University in Auburn, Ala. He will begin at Eastern on Feb. 1.
“I’ve got to wrap up some projects I’m working on back at Auburn,” Martin said.
His first priority upon arriving at Eastern will be familiarizing himself with the school, staff and alumni.
“I want to meet with all of the development staff and go over the goals and objectives for the next year,” Martin said. “The main thing, though, is getting to know the alumni and students.”
Financially, Eastern could be relying much more heavily on donations than it has in the past.
For fiscal year 2010, Eastern has received approximately $5.7 million of the requested $30 million.
Auburn recently saw a $75 million cut in state-appropriated funding.
“It affected all of us in development,” Martin said. “It’s going to take alumni and friends to support the university.”
Martin believes the state does what it can for higher education, although it is often not enough.
“We went from state-supported to state-assisted,” he said. “We’re happy to get what we get.”
Martin and his wife Donna will relocate to Charleston.
Their youngest daughter, Codi, will enroll at Charleston High School.
Their second daughter, Kerri, will finish her last semester at Auburn as an honors student before transferring to Eastern in the fall.
Lindsey, their oldest daughter, has already graduated from college.
Martin beat out three other finalists to be Jill Nilsen’s replacement.
Nilsen was the vice president for external relations.
She retired on Dec. 31, 2009.
Martin will be Eastern’s first vice president for university advancement, a title change decision made by Perry to designate the position as one focused on philanthropy.
Perry and Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, both said the candidate pool was strong.
“The search committee did not make a single recommendation,” said Lord, who was also chair of the search committee. “Instead, we presented the president with a list of each candidate’s weaknesses and strengths.”
Perry was impressed with the work of the committee.
“The search committee brought four very strong candidates to campus,” he said. “I’m very pleased.”
Sarah Ruholl can be reached at 581-7942 or
