AWC Foundation finds realignment and new focus
Organization announces personnel changes
While Arizona Western College is known for providing postsecondary as well as career and technical education to the Yuma and La Paz counties, the AWC Foundation is known for helping students attain that education through collaborative contributions, scholarships and grants.
Currently, the AWC Foundation manages nearly 300 scholarship and programmatic funds. Last year, the foundation distributed over $380,000 in scholarships and program funds to nearly 150 students. And it keeps growing.
In a recent press release, the AWC Foundation has announced that it’s realigning its organizational structure to become more closely linked to the college district’s priorities and position its team for an expanded scope to contribute to capital improvements.
“In these changing and challenging times, the Foundation has been a beacon for our students who are seeking help to attend college,” said AWC President Dr. Daniel Corr. “We’re growing the role of the organization to complement that rich history with a fundraising effort to enhance our campus locations to keep up with program growth and community needs. We’re incredibly excited to partner with people and organizations that are passionate about the work community colleges are doing in rural Arizona.”
At no additional cost to the Foundation’s donor-funded budget, Lori Stofft is adding Executive Director for the AWC Foundation to her Vice President for Advancement role; Laura Knaresboro will be Chief Operating Officer; and Gladys Anaya is becoming Development Manager. AWC reports that these changes will add significant resources to the Foundation.
In her current role as Vice President for Advancement at AWC, working with grants has regularly fallen under Stofft’s purview, but her new role will add to the external funding research and strategic planning that’s undertaken at AWC.
“I’m very much looking forward to shifting my role to include building partnerships across the region to support our students, our campuses and programs,” she said. “The Foundation team has done a wonderful job of building a scholarship program second to none in our counties–and we’re excited to build on that success and bring in partners to help transform our campus locations for the next two decades.”
In her role as Executive Director, Knaresboro has overseen the largest increase in endowed scholarships in any single year of the Foundation’s history. As the Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer, she’ll help maintain connections with donors who care deeply about developing scholarship funds for college students.
“I am greatly looking forward to the opportunity to serve the Foundation as the Chief Operating Officer,” Knaresboro said. “It is an exciting time to be a part of such an important organization in our community. I am excited to continue to help the Foundation grow in its service to the college district and our amazing community.”
Per the release from AWC, one important reason that the college is seeking a deeper partnership with the AWC Foundation is to support the $34M Revenue Bond projects that were approved in 2021 by the elected AWC District governing board. These projects include a rebuild of the De Anza Residence Hall on the Yuma campus and a new yet-to-be-named student learning-studying-gaming facility, which will also house KAWC Public Media, AWC’s television services team, a MakerSpace and an esports arena.
AWC reports that a key element to developing those expanded partnerships is the volunteer Foundation Board of Directors, led by Crystal Gunderman of Foothills Bank.
“This change will, no doubt, bring greater growth and opportunity,” Gunderman said. “I’m so proud to be a part of a progressive-thinking team of highly motivated individuals who rise to the occasion in supporting the college and our great community.”