Joe Buck, a higher education executive with more than two decades of fundraising experience at top universities, has been named the University of Oregon’s vice president of advancement.
UO President Karl Scholz announced in a message to campus that Buck will join the university Sept. 18. As a member of the UO senior leadership team, Buck will lead the university’s fundraising and alumni engagement efforts.
Buck comes to the UO from Lehigh University, a top-tier private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he serves as vice president of development and alumni relations.
“During his 20 years of higher education fundraising and engagement leadership at Lehigh, the University of Chicago and other top universities, Joe has built incredibly successful teams and developed deep and lasting relationships,” Scholz said. “He has demonstrated a strong track record of success, and at each institution he’s served he has helped to accelerate the achievement of the university’s mission.”
Among his many achievements at Lehigh, Buck led a 130-person team, increased fundraising progress by 25 percent, and successfully launched a more than $1 billion campaign. Previously, he served in several fundraising leadership roles at the University of Chicago over nine years, including associate dean of advancement at the Booth School of Business, where he doubled the school’s fundraising progress in just three years.
He also worked as a major-gifts fundraiser at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and La Salle University.
Buck said he is eager to get started and build on the momentum in University Advancement and elsewhere throughout the university.
“I am honored and excited to join President Scholz and the University of Oregon community to advance the UO’s distinctive role in the national public higher education ecosystem,” Buck said. “I look forward to forging collaborations in advancing our mission of academic excellence, research and public service.”
He succeeds Michael Andreasen, who left the UO in 2022 after serving 12 years and guiding a campaign that raised $3.2 billion for the university.
Scholz thanked Bob Shepard, who served as the interim head of advancement, for his leadership and the entire advancement team for its dedication to supporting the UO mission during the search for Andreason’s successor.
Scholz also announced that Tim Inman, university secretary to the board of trustees, will continue to oversee Government and Community Relations, employing his vast experience in government affairs to advance the university’s federal, state and community engagement.
Inman has served in his current role since 2021 and spent the previous two years as chief of staff to the provost. Prior to coming to the UO, he spent more than a decade in key staff roles in the state House of Representatives and Oregon politics, including six years working for Oregon’s Speaker of the House, first as legislative director and then as chief of staff.