Harvard University Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Affairs Scott Nichols, who will join the Boston University administration in May, said he became interested in the field of alumni relations after he was the chairman of a gift drive when he was in college.
“It’s a great career — dealing with worthy institutions and trying to find generous people,” he said in an interview. “That’s a lot of satisfaction. I learned that early in my career, in fact I learned it as a student. I headed up the senior gift drive at my college, and I’ve been addicted ever since. I ended up doing graduate work in this area. It’s been my life’s calling, and I’ve had a fabulous career.”
Nichols has worked at Harvard for 20 years, and said he “enjoyed every single minute of it.” However, his reasons for leaving the Ivy League school are not because of any problems, he says, but merely because it is time to move on.
“I’m going to miss a lot of that, but at the same time, it’s 20 years,” he said. “It’s time for a big new challenge. I see the chance to work with Bob Brown and move BU up in terms of the financial support it gets is kind of a terrific new thing that I definitely do want to do.”
At Harvard, Nichols spearheaded two major campaigns: the “Campaign for Harvard Law School,” which involved renovating a library and increasing financial aid, and “Setting the Standard,” which was the largest law school campaign Nichols said he knew of.
As part of “Setting the Standard,” Nichols increased the Harvard Law School faculty by 25 percent.
But Nichols’s work with alumni relations started before his work at Harvard. He held similar jobs at Northwestern University, DePaul University, the University of Pennsylvania and his alma mater, Bucknell – “the other BU” in his life.
As BU’s Development and Alumni Relations Vice President, Nichols will have the significant task of boosting the university’s endowment fund, which is less than $1 billion, compared to Harvard’s $25 billion endowment.
“Where Development and Alumni Relations kicks in is that we’re going to try to make sure alumni are absolutely an essential part of the community, heavily engaged and involved,” he said. “And then we’re going to ask everything that has a pulse or an address to support these extraordinary goals at an extraordinary institution.”
But Nichols said even though he has absolute confidence in working successfully at BU, it is almost impossible to reproduce what Harvard has.
“I don’t come to BU with any sense of, ‘Gee, we’re going to try to replicate what they do at Harvard,'” he said. “For one thing, Harvard has a 300-year head start on just about everybody, and that just can’t be replicated. What I do hope, which is true at Harvard and every other educational institution, is you have to do the basics well.”
Nichols said the basics of the job entail informing and involving alumni and making them a part of the community.
“You have to find friends and people who share common goals with the institution, be they alumni or not, and then you have to go out and aggressively, enthusiastically and passionately ask people to support the place in a very meaningful way,” he said. “You get told ‘no’ more often than ‘yes,’ but the issue is, a strong case usually wins out. And a strong institution usually does very well. I know BU to be a great institution and to be quite strong with very worthy objectives for the future. I’m very optimistic.”
One of the main reasons Nichols said he chose to work at BU is the recent appointment of President Robert Brown.
“Bob is known in higher education as an extraordinary leader,” he said. “The chance to work with Bob and his team is extremely appealing. Secondly, there’s Boston University as well … The faculty and the students are terrific.”
BU spokesman Colin Riley said Nichols’s view of working at the university extends beyond just increasing the endowment fund.
“He looks to excite and interest alumni, friends, corporations and foundations,” Riley said. “He’s out to make the connection between people and these foundations and others — there are things taking place that will benefit tremendously from their support and recognition.”
Riley said given BU’s history of endowment, Nichols has ample opportunity to work with donors and alumni.
“He has a tremendous record in [fundraising],” he said. “This is a school with a modest endowment. Given the university’s history and what it has grown from — it had less than 19 million dollars in endowment back in 1970 — to have grown to over 800 million – that has been steady. This is an opportunity with a huge potential donor base to increase that.”
With his new job, Nichols said financial aid for all students will be a high priority, a move that Riley said is currently being considered in the administration.
“President Brown has indicated that increasing the funds available for undergraduate financial aid is a goal that he would like to pursue,” Riley said.
Although many Harvard donations come from notable alumni, Nichols said he feels there are just as many notable alumni here at BU.