Brandon Busby has a big job as the new vice president of development at the University of North Texas.

Its focus, though, is on a very specific prize: keeping a bachelor’s degree at a level 1 research institution available to students, whether they want to pursue a bachelor’s degree or pursue a master’s or PhD degree. The task is being made easier by the university’s research achievements and the leadership of UNT President Neil Smatreska, he says.

“I was a college graduate,” Buzby said, “and I had an idea of ​​the types of institutions I would like to partner with to expand their ability to succeed in philanthropy. A big part of the mission that attracted me was how UNT works in Texas, in Denton and beyond.”

Before entering the UNT immediately after entering last year, Buzby worked on continuing education at the universities of Denver and San Diego. He is no stranger to the mountaineering costs of pursuing a Higher Education. Extension departments develop financial partnerships between the private sector and universities, strengthen ties between alumni and their alma mater, and advertise the school’s achievements to an international audience.

In this position, Buzbee will focus on developing partnerships for the Denton and Frisco campuses.

Buzbee now leads a department that brings in about $30 million a year for charity and fundraising. His goal is to increase UNT’s donations to $50 million over the next five years. It’s a dramatic rise, but Buzby said he appreciates how student-focused those dollars are.

“As someone who has built his career supporting schools, I can tell you that the dollar goes further at the UNT than at many, many institutions of higher education across the country,” he said. “A $500 or $1,000 scholarship is the difference between students getting their degree at UNT and having to go home due to a family emergency and having to work to help their family.

“We are so close to the difference between accelerated social mobility just being stuck in a cycle and being stuck in a cycle of just making ends meet.”

Busby joins the UNT at a time of unprecedented progress and productivity in the university’s engineering program. In his opinion, this achievement will attract new partnerships to the school.

“If you look at the growth we’ve had in the last decade in our Tier 1 status, our research productivity has been on a pretty steep upswing,” Buzby said. “And over the same decade, fundraising has remained relatively flat. On average, we raised about $30 million a year. Two-thirds of that support was for things like student service or student support. the productivity of research and the growth of philanthropy should mirror each other.”

UNT is the fastest growing public college in Texas and growth means more students, more buildings and programs, more faculty and staff. Buzby said the challenges of raising funds in a growth environment come with opportunities. UNT has just opened Frisco Landing, its newest campus, as a corporate-institutional development model.

Social mobility is not just a buzzword on the UNT. Amid historic student debt, soaring housing prices and a tough job market, UNT officials have focused their strategic plans on awarding degrees to students who are literally cashing in on their education. At a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for Frisco Landing, Smatresk and Frisco, officials said higher education is the driving force behind the economy. Students who can get through graduation and start a career with real advancement opportunities? This is the mission and vision of the university.

Buzzby said he hopes to connect this mission with new partners to help bring more students to the university. According to Buzby, the Texas Legislature continues to provide generous funds for higher education. And Texas college graduates have dug deep into recent campaigns.

Take, for example, Texas A&M University, which recently completed a nine-year, $4.2 billion campaign. The fundraising campaign was the most ambitious higher education fundraising program in Texas history, with 60% of the funds coming from Aggie alumni.

Buzby said that Aggieland creates a special kind of alumni.

“When someone leaves a place like A&M, you almost have to beg them not to show you their ring,” he said. “They carry a sense of unwavering loyalty to the university. After all, philanthropy is derived from something much deeper. It is an expression of selflessness, a palpable sense that my heritage and the heritage of this place are tied together.

“We didn’t start with the UNT, graduating engineers and people who were going to work in the oil fields,” Buzby said. “We were a pedagogical college. And so in terms of time there are comparisons. From the point of view of economic reality, you need to look at another reality. Decades ago, we had a leadership that took great pride in taking money only from the state and not taking any charity dollars. Charity builds on itself. So an institution that raised $2 billion in their last campaign could raise $4 billion in their next one.”

Buzzby said Mean Green alumni are a dedicated group and his department will look to strengthen the relationship between them and the university. He will work with the UNT Alumni Association, an independent non-profit organization served by university staff.

Nearly half of UNT alumni live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, thanks in part to economic growth in North Texas. Tens of thousands of alumni live in Denton County. Busby said part of his job will be to strengthen the links between the city and the dress.

“I had the opportunity to meet some of our most dedicated and dedicated donors, many of whom live in Denton,” Bazby said. “They expressed such a deep sense of faith in the future of the university and its importance in the context of Denton, where Denton is going and what’s going on… Whether it’s an alumni association, or through the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning, or through the art galleries that are out there, I think there are many opportunities for such interaction.