After living in Texas, South Dakota and throughout Kansas, Courtney Marshall has found a new home in Wichita.

As the newly-appointed CEO of the Wichita State Alumni Association, Marshall said she has many ideas to tie the alumni association into the lives of Shockers, both past and present and young and old.

“I want to make the association accessible and open to the university Foundation, Athletics and the community,” she said.

An experienced résumé

As a college student at Kansas State University in the mid-1990s, Marshall graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, with an emphasis in public relations. Despite the degrees, she said she “didn’t want to do it forever.”

In 2000, Marshall found herself looking through career listings on the website of her alma mater. Discovering an opening for the director of alumni communications and member services, Marshall decided to apply — and she got the job.

Marshall stayed in that role until 2004, when she had an opportunity to become the executive director for the University of South Dakota Alumni Association, where she stayed until 2007, creating and managing the association’s $400,000 budget.

Fast forward a few years after holding positions at Benedictine College and Texas Tech, Marshall moved back to K-State and became the major gift development officer at the College of Veterinary Medicine, a position that enabled her to arrange donors and gifts of more than $25,000 for the college.

Making the Association accessible

Although Marshall is not a Shocker alum, she said she has ideas to help grow the WSU Alumni Association into something greater than what is currently in place.    

“One of the main things I would like to do is restart chapters and societies,” Marshall said. “It is very important to connect our alumni and fans across the country to the institution. We want to take the university to Dallas or Chicago in order to keep those individuals engaged.”

Changes on campus are part of what drove Marshall to Wichita, she said, as she felt the new, revitalized campus initiatives through Innovation Campus provided her with an unparalleled career opportunity.

“We have many new deans with new ideas, so I have been working with them to see how we can partner and serve the community,” Marshall said.

One of the ways that Marshall wants to transform the Alumni Association is through refreshed communication among graduates and the university. She said she envisions the Alumni Association as becoming the premier way to show support for WSU after a Shocker graduates.

She estimated that, as of right now, there are only about 6,000 paid memberships in the Alumni Association — a number she hopes will grow exponentially.

“You want to join the Association because that is the No. 1 way that you show your enthusiasm for the association,” she said.

Marshall said she also wants to help extend the reach of the Alumni Association on campus, with opportunities to provide for Shocker alums both on and off campus.

“I think the line of communication has opened up a lot,” she said. “People are already reaching out to us and seeing us as a partner.”

Native Kansas roots

Through her position here at WSU, Marshall has been able to check back in with her love of Kansas.

After traveling around and learning how to be an effective director, Marshall plans on staying in Kansas, putting her experiences and lessons to use.

“I have traveled all over the country, and I just kind of keep coming back here,” she said. “It is a place that I want to be.”