BVU Names Vice President for University Development and Alumni Engagement
Joan S. Canty will provide strategic direction, vision, and executive management to all development and BVU alumni operations. She will endeavor to secure and expand external support for BVU through capital campaigns, annual giving, and planned giving activities.
Buena Vista University has named Joan S. Canty its new Vice President for University Development and Alumni Engagement.
Canty, who currently serves as Director of the National Eagle Scout Association and Supervisor of Alumni Development for the Boy Scouts of America in Irving, Texas, assumes her role at BVU on June 1.
While serving the National Eagle Scout Association, Canty directed the implementation of a comprehensive program to engage more than 50 million Scouting alumni and friends and two million Eagle Scouts across the world.
From 2014 to 2019, Canty served as Vice President of University of Advancement at the University of Dallas (UD) in Irving, Texas, and helped fashion multi-million-dollar campaigns to support new construction and renovation efforts on the UD campus in Irving, and at UD’s campus in Albano, Italy.
“Joan’s experiences with the Boy Scouts of America and through higher education with the University of Dallas and a host of institutions similar to BVU set her apart from other applicants,” says BVU President Brian Lenzmeier. “Additionally, her experience in alumni engagement and establishing relationships with friends and former students, her enthusiasm for BVU, the communities we serve, and our motto, ‘Education for Service’ clearly resonated in our communications and throughout her visit to BVU and Storm Lake.”
Canty, a native New Englander, earned her undergraduate degree from Loyola University in New Orleans, La. and a master’s degree at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to her service with the University of Dallas, she was Vice President for University Advancement at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas, from 2009 to 2014, and held additional leadership positions at Texas Wesleyan beginning in 2002. Additional professional experiences in higher education for Canty have occurred at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson in New York, and at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.
“I have a passion for University advancement and have been fortunate to help celebrate in the successes of institutions I have served,” Canty says. “I am drawn to the mission of private universities, and to those who enable their work to impact students each day.”
Canty will provide strategic direction, vision, and executive management to all development and BVU alumni operations. She will endeavor to secure and expand external support for BVU through capital campaigns, annual giving, and planned giving activities.
Although she and her husband, John Canty, have never resided in Iowa, they eagerly anticipate the chance to experience and revel in everything BVU, Storm Lake, and Northwest Iowa have to offer.
“I grew up in small towns in Maine and Vermont,” Canty says. “John and I raised our son, Justin, in Texas, and he has now graduated from college and is beginning his career. This represents a wonderful time in our life to be adventurous by answering a call and embracing new challenges while supporting those at the heart of the experience at BVU, a University intent on growing and strengthening its stakeholders and their communities.”
Canty notes the student who gave her a tour of campus, Brody McLemore, hails from Katy, Texas. McLemore, a biology major who plays football for the Beavers, told Canty that BVU “felt like home” on his initial visit to the lakeshore campus.
“In that way, I have an expectation to be like a new student arriving, intent on working hard to make new friends while strategically executing our planning, all the while enjoying this journey and everything it has to offer,” she says. “I can’t wait to dig in and get involved in the events and experiences that make BVU and Storm Lake so special.”
Canty is impressed with the knowledge, enthusiasm, and foresight shown by Lenzmeier, who has transitioned from the visionary Professor of Biology who served his students to a bold BVU President, intent on communicating and working with others to deliver upon the BVU vision as today’s students become tomorrow’s leaders.
“President Lenzmeier is student-focused and student-centered,” Canty says. “That’s how I have felt throughout my career. I want to get to know BVU alumni and come to understand the experiences they’re drawn to and what remains important to them as we advance the University, grow the community, and create a meaningful legacy.”