Western University administrator promoted

Western University of Health Sciences announced this week an appointment to the post of senior vice president of advancement.

Thomas G. Fox, who since January has served as interim vice president of university advancement, has been named to the permanent post, the university said in a statement.

Fox will be responsible for overseeing the university's alumni relations, public affairs and advancement information departments. He will be responsible for the management of areas such as fundraising, annual giving, corporate and foundation relations and gift planning.

Fox's will also have a role in the development and monitoring of the university's strategic plan.

As part of his appointment, Fox will serve as a professor in the university's department of social medicine and health care leadership.

He will report to Western University President Philip Pumerantz.

"Tom's record of success and expertise speaks for itself," Pumerantz said in the statement. "His depth and breadth of experience as a higher-education administrator come along only rarely, and Western U is fortunate that he will make his professional home here.

"He will be a great asset to the university as we continue in our mission to become the most comprehensive health sciences institution in the country."

Fox came to Western in August 2008 as a special assistant to the president. Before working for Western he served for five years as senior vice president for advancement at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla., which was named one of America's best colleges in U.S. News and World Report.

In addition to extensive experience working in academia, Fox has experience in the nonprofit sector.

His nonprofit experience includes serving in the late 1990s as executive vice president and chief executive officer of Operation Smile, an international organization based in Norfolk, Va.

Through the organization, volunteer physicians perform thousands of surgeries each year to repair facial deformities in children.

Fox has a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher Education, and a master's degree from the University of Vermont.