OSU names Duke University leader, OSU alumnus as director of Alumni Association

Greenwood succeeds Jeff Todd, who resigned last year to accept a position at the University of British Columbia. Christi Kasten has been interim director.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Scott Greenwood, a Duke University administrator with extensive ties to the Pacific Northwest, has been named associate vice president and executive director of the Oregon State University Alumni Association. He also will direct the university’s Department of Alumni Relations.

For the past decade, Greenwood has been associate director of Duke’s nationally recognized Talent Identification Program, which identifies academically gifted and talented youths and works with them and their families to maximize their potential. The program, popularly known as TIP, has become a national model for how universities can enhance K-12 education.

A Portland native, he worked at Oregon State from 1986-88 as Student Activities program adviser and has a master’s degree from OSU in College Student Service Administration. Greenwood also spent eight years at Willamette University in Salem, where he received his bachelor’s degree in political science and economics, and has worked at Seattle University.

“Scott has a track record of leadership and innovation that will well serve the OSU Alumni Association,” said OSU President Edward J. Ray. “He will bring to the organization fresh ideas on how the university can engage our nearly 160,000 alumni around the world, and continue the growth of the association, particularly in strategic markets with large numbers of OSU graduates.”

Greenwood’s background is diverse. His early career was spent in student activity programs at OSU, Willamette and Seattle University, and in 1993, he became director of annual giving at Willamette. He designed and implemented the university’s annual giving program, as well as a parent fund and a trustee fund, and helped set a record in unrestricted giving to the university.

He left Willamette in 1997 and went to Shreveport, La., where he was dean of Student Life at Centenary College for nearly four years. In 2001, he went to Duke and became chief operating and technology officer, and associate director of the Talent Identification Program. There he developed partnerships with the Goldman Sachs Foundation Next Generation Venture Fund and the Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars Program to serve disadvantaged gifted youths.

As associate vice president and executive director of the OSU Alumni Association, Greenwood will work with a professional staff and a cadre of volunteers to grow membership, expand regional activities from San Francisco to Seattle, and engage alumni in the Portland area, where the largest concentration of OSU graduates reside.

"I'm excited that Scott Greenwood will return to OSU to lead the alumni association," said Penny Atkins, a 1979 OSU graduate and president of the association’s board of directors. "Our professional staff and our growing team of volunteers have been hard at work on new programs to engage and better serve our alumni wherever they live.

“Scott's energy, enthusiasm and leadership will make our strong team even stronger,” Atkins added, “so that we will keep growing our ability to connect OSU alumni with one another and with our great university."

The association is a member-based, nonprofit organization that promotes OSU and engages alumni. Its programs include numerous activities, the Oregon Stater magazine, a faculty lecture series, travel opportunities and a web site for alumni.

Greenwood succeeds Jeff Todd, who resigned last year to accept a position at the University of British Columbia. Christi Kasten has been interim director.

About the OSU Alumni Association: The association is a member-based, nonprofit organization that promotes OSU and engages alumni. Its programs include a Web site for alumni, the Oregon Stater magazine, an e-mail newsletter, regional activities, faculty lecture series, travel opportunities and tailgate parties. It is located in the CH2M HILL Alumni Center, which also serves as a conference center.