TACOMA, Wash. – Following an extensive and highly competitive national search, University of Puget Sound has named Victor Martin vice president for university relations effective July 5, 2022. Martin comes to Puget Sound from California State University, Bakersfield, in Bakersfield, Calif., where he served as vice president for university advancement and executive director of the Foundation at CSU Bakersfield.
“We are absolutely delighted to have Victor join Puget Sound,” said Puget Sound President Isiaah Crawford. “He is an accomplished advancement leader with a proven track record in fundraising and development operations, alumni engagement and community relations. We look forward to the many contributions he will make to help advance Puget Sound’s strategic plan, spearhead our upcoming comprehensive campaign, and lead the strong team we have in place in the division of university relations.”
Martin holds an MBA and B.A. from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He is a member of the boards of directors of the Institute for Religion, Education, and Public Policy, and the Kegley Institute of Ethics. He has more than 15 years of experience in campaign management and fundraising for nonprofits, and has played a key role on teams that have raised more than $350 million. Prior to his nine years of service at CSU Bakersfield, he directed feasibility studies and fundraising campaigns for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, Lions Clubs International Foundation, Adventist Health Bakersfield Foundation, and the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
"It is a privilege and an honor to have been selected as the next vice president for university relations for the University of Puget Sound," Martin said. "The institution is making positive and lasting impacts on its students and its community, and I am grateful to be joining this effort. I look forward to working with the University of Puget Sound's incredible leadership team, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, and community to support outstanding educational outcomes for its students and graduates."
With a visionary president, a dynamic and dedicated senior leadership team, passionate students, and exceptional faculty and staff, Puget Sound is at a turning point in its 130-year history. Curricular and programmatic innovation is a cornerstone of Puget Sound’s Leadership for Changing World strategic plan, which challenges the university to be bold and forward-looking in the delivery of education and in meeting the needs of current and future generations of students. Martin will play a critical role in the execution of the plan from a constituent relationship and fundraising perspective to ensure the university adheres to its mission to develop students’ capacities for critical analysis, aesthetic appreciation, sound judgment, and apt expression that will sustain a lifetime of intellectual curiosity, active inquiry, and reasoned independence.
About Puget Sound
A nationally ranked residential liberal arts and sciences college in Tacoma, Wash., University of Puget Sound enrolls 1,800 undergraduate students from across the country and around the world, as well as 300 graduate students in education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and public health. A low student-faculty ratio provides Puget Sound students with personal attention from faculty members who have a strong commitment to teaching and offer 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 areas of study. Puget Sound graduates include Rhodes and Luce scholars, notables in the arts and culture, scholars and scientists, entrepreneurs and elected officials, and leaders in business and finance locally and throughout the world. A top producer of Fulbright U.S. Students, Puget Sound is the only nationally ranked independent liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of just five independent colleges in the Northwest granted a charter by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society.
