Campus Currents

Roots in the Past, Focused on the Future Debbie Dutton takes the helm at Advancement and the Foundation By Suki Casanave '86G

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Perry Smith/UNH Photographic Services MISSION DRIVEN: New Vice President Debbie Dutton has always worked at "places that are helping people."

It's Sept. 17, and Debbie Dutton is taking a moment to pause and remember Antietam. What struck her most when she visited the historic site a few years ago was the silence. And the way the sunlight slanted across the famous cornfield where so many Civil War soldiers lost their lives, the way the shadows ran along the sunken road that became a death trap on this day in 1862—the bloodiest day in American military history.

UNH's new vice president for Advancement—which includes the Foundation, the Alumni Association and University Communications and Marketing—loves history and has a particular interest in the Civil War. Several of her ancestors fought in the conflict, including a great-great grandfather who served as a surgeon. And she grew up in a place infused with history, part of the seventh generation to live in her family's home in Westbrook, Maine. "We were surrounded," she says, "by the idea that history matters."

The connection between lives that have come before and those that will follow, the impact one person can have on generations to come, the power of a single decision—these lessons of the past run deep for Dutton, and they are on her mind this fall as she embarks on a job designed to help shape the future of New Hampshire's flagship state university. UNH is poised at a historic moment, she points out, with rising tuition and the lowest state aid to higher education in the nation. "There's no greater time than right now to make a positive impact on UNH," says Dutton. "People who love this place have a wonderful opportunity to become engaged, direct their philanthropy to a worthy institution and be confident that they can make a tangible and lasting difference."

"Making a difference" has been a motivating force throughout Dutton's career, which has included development positions at the Maine chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston's Children's Hospital, the Joslin Diabetes Center and, more recently, at two institutions of higher education—Bates and Colby Colleges. "I feel incredibly lucky that I've always worked for mission-driven organizations," she says, "places that are helping people."

UNH's wide-reaching mission as a public institution is a particularly good fit philosophically for Dutton, who attended the University of Maine, where she majored in journalism and had her first fundraising experience as a sorority president working with a homeless shelter. "One of the compelling things to me about UNH is that lower-income and middle-class kids, who are in danger of being pushed out of higher education, can come here and get a really strong education," says Dutton. "Many of these students will go on to do incredible things that make our communities, and in some cases our world, so much better. And their opportunities shouldn't be limited because of costs."

Despite the challenges ahead, Dutton is optimistic. "The basic building blocks are in place here," she says. "The question now is how do we all come together—the entire university community, including alumni, donors and friends—to work as a team? How do we harness the potential and promise that have been unrealized for a while?" The moment is critical. But Dutton, who believes in leadership by example and describes her role as president of the UNH Foundation as "chief fundraiser, second only to the president of the university," is ready to set a new course. She knows that whatever lies ahead must be anchored in the university's heritage as a public institution, that tomorrow's possibilities are shaped by past accomplishments. That history matters.