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J. Wayne Davenport, the new vice president of university relations and development, says he sees fund-raising as his chief responsibility.

The board of trustees appointed Davenport at a meeting on April 26, 2001. He is also the CSU foundation executive director.

During the month that Davenport has been in office at CSU he has already made immediate changes that he says will make his area become more effective and efficient.

He has made two key permanent and one key interim appointments, he said.

The permanent appoint-ments are Brian Johnston, the new director of marketing and public affairs, Linda Prosak, assistant vice president development, and Holly Brinda, interim executive assistant to the vice president.

Davenport stressed that he would be reorganizing his area to process fund-raising efforts quickly and smoothly. Cross training support staff for the organization will help all parts of the organi-zational fund-raising at the university, he said.

He said his staff will be able to work together to handle gifts made to the university, especially around the holidays when increased giving has made it difficult in the past to handle the flow efficiently. He said they would be able to respond to a dramatic increase in their workload, and gift processing by being fully prepared.

Davenport has 30 years of experience in his field.

Before coming to CSU, he was the vice president for university advance-ment and executive director of the University Foundation at Southeast Missouri State University. During that time Daven-port personally planned, and successfully reached and exceeded his fund raising goals.

In a recent news release former CSU President Claire Van Ummerson said, “Wayne Davenport brings to Cleveland State proven skills, experience and success in two vitally important areas: fund-raising and public relations,” noting, “he is an excellent addition to our administrative team.”

“My major function is to serve as the university’s chief fund-raiser,” Daven-port said, but stressed that he is here at CSU to do everything he can to help students and faculty.

He said, “Our number one customer is the students, and our number one resource to help the students is our faculty.”

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