Advancement adds two to senior staff

	Christine Smith

A pair of accomplished advancement professionals have joined Lehigh University’s Advancement Office this month.
Christine D. Smith was named associate vice president for advancement, effective May 27, while Duffy Ross comes on board as assistant vice president for advancement communications as of May 20.
Christine and Duffy are experienced, talented leaders in advancement and bring a wealth of experience to Lehigh, said Joseph P. Kender, Jr. ’87, vice president for advancement. We're fortunate to be able to bring them on as colleagues. I look forward to their contributions to all of our efforts.
Smith, who returns to Lehigh after more than 10 years away, will oversee five major functional divisions within the Advancement stem: major gifts, planned giving, corporate and foundation relations, career services, and advancement services.
“Lehigh is on a great trajectory, and I view this as a wonderful opportunity for me to help the University achieve even greater heights,” Smith said. “I am thrilled to be returning to the traditional Lehigh, which I remember from the past, and the new Lehigh, which has been evolving in the 10 years I have been away. I have found that Lehigh people are an unusually wonderful and dedicated group; I look forward to working closely with faculty, staff, and alumni to take Lehigh to the next level of academic distinction.”
Previously she was chief advancement officer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., and associate vice president for Main Campus development and senior director of development for the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
From 1980 to 1997, Smith was an integral part of the development program at Lehigh. She served as assistant director of development, director of corporate and foundation resources, campaign director for program development for the $250 million New Century Fund Campaign, and director of international advancement.
Smith, whose husband, Charles R. Smith, is a professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics at Lehigh, has also worked at Purdue University as the director of the Women in Engineering Program, and at Stanford University as a development assistant for the Annual Fund.

	Duffy Ross

In his new role, Ross will be responsible for creating the strategy for all communications pertaining to the advancement office.
He brings to Lehigh more than 20 years of communications experience from leading public and private educational institutions. He is an award-winning writer, editor, and communications strategist and has been recognized by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the International Association of Business Communicators.
Ross comes to Lehigh from Saint Joseph’s University, where he had been executive director of development communications, providing strategic direction for all advancement communications, including those regarding the university’s largest comprehensive campaign to date. He also served as executive director of university communications at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md.
“Lehigh is poised for greatness,” Ross said. “I’m delighted to be joining one of America’s truly great universities at this time in its history.”
--Tom Durso
Christine Smith photo courtesy of Carnegie Institution for Science