Short Stay at SHSU: Alumni Director Resigns After Six Months

By Matt Pederson /Staff Writer
The Huntsville Item

After only six months as director of Sam Houston State University's alumni association, Scott Stuckey handed in his resignation earlier this week, which will take effect at the end of the month.

Stuckey said he resigned from the position because it was not a good fit for him. Stuckey accepted his position as the SHSU alumni association director last July, but his heart is in development, specifically with fund-raising.

"It just was not a good fit here, and after thinking about it carefully and discussing it with my family and with Frank Holmes, I just thought it would be best for me to pursue other opportunities," Stuckey said Wednesday.

Holmes, SHSU's vice president of university advancement, said that although some were surprised by Stuckey's resignation, the two of them had spoken about it before the Christmas break.

"He wanted to think about what he wanted to do in the future over the Christmas holidays," Holmes said. "He came back in, I think it was Monday morning, and said that he had thought about it and discussed it with his family and he decided that he wanted to pursue opportunities in development."

Even though he has only been in Huntsville a short time, Stuckey said he enjoyed his time at SHSU.
"The university is just fantastic," Stuckey said. "The people here were fantastic, the alumni association board is fantastic and so is the community. I have truly enjoyed working with everybody at the university, working with the people in the Huntsville community and all the alumni around the state."

Stuckey, a native Houstonian, received his bachelor of business administration degree in finance from Texas A&M in 1994, then went to the University of Houston-Clear Lake to get his master of business administration, which he earned in 2002.

Holmes said there currently is nobody in line to take over for Stuckey. However, as soon as the job listing is posted, a new search will begin.

"We are moving very quickly to follow the policies and procedures to get the job posted, and are hopeful that we've built the program to the point now that we'll have attractive candidates and that it will not take three or four months to find somebody," Holmes said. "I'm very optimistic that we will run an aggressive search and be able to find someone in 30 to 60 days. That may be a bit optimistic by university standards, but I'm hopeful that we will be able to do that.

"I'm going to work very closely with the alumni association executive committee and also keep (SHSU President James) Gaertner very informed, because as president and an alumnus, I know that he will have an interest in us getting a good fit for the alumni program."

There may not be a director for a couple of months, but Holmes is optimistic about the staff of the alumni association handling themselves before a new director is found.

"The program is a whole lot better off than it was three years ago, and for a variety of reasons," Holmes said. "I think Kevin Hayes did a great job when he was alumni director, I think we've had good staff people in there, and most importantly, we've had a very interested and involved alumni board. I'm optimistic and confident that things are not going to slide."
 

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Matt Pederson can be reached by e-mail or by phone at 936.295.5407 ext. 3023.

Media Contact: Julia May
January 6, 2005
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