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Carroll B. Christman’s landing in the world of donor development was “completely accidental,” she says. It’s become a happy accident.

This fall, Christman was named senior director of development for the University of Colorado Foundation, the nonprofit fund-raising arm of CU. In her new role, Christman will oversee donor-development efforts for the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest and oldest college at the state’s flagship institution of higher education.

“Somehow, I just landed in development,” she says. But the story’s a bit more involved than that.

Originally from suburban Chicago, Christman attended Marquette University in Wisconsin, where she realized a desire to work in a university environment, which is “just so alive.”

At the time, her mother worked at a suburban Chicago hospital that was looking to start up a development office. Christman landed the job and became hooked on development.

She’s spent 17 years in nonprofit fund-raising and management, during which time she’s served as the development officer for former President Judith Albino, in a similar capacity for the College of Arts and Sciences, and most recently as a development officer at UC Denver.

In her newest role, which she says she intends to retain until retirement, Christman’s goals are both straightforward and daunting. She aims to continue strengthening an “outstanding fund-raising team” that doggedly supports arts and sciences.

Noting the current economy, Christman says, “It’s an extremely challenging year.” But, “My goal is to do the very best we can to help people realize their philanthropic goals while understanding their circumstances”

Still, she notes that making the case for supporting a public institution isn’t easy. “People think it’s tax-supported.” The university is, indeed, supported by taxes, but for two decades state allocations have fallen—both in real dollars and as measured by their contribution to the general fund.

As they grapple with how to cut even more money from the state budget, Colorado legislators have mulled over radical but unlikely ideas such as closing community colleges and withdrawing all state support to CU—thereby transforming Colorado’s first public university into a private institution.

Two decades ago, state funds accounted for more than 20 percent of CU’s budget. Today, state funds compose about 6 percent of the budget. Private gifts raised by the CU Foundation compose another 2.6 percent.

Statistics compiled by the CU-Boulder Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis further explain the situation. CU-Boulder’s 2008-09 state appropriation per in-state student was $4,611, ranking second lowest among the 26 public “peer” universities with available data.

CU’s combined total of state appropriations per full-time resident student plus tuition and fees ranked lowest among CU’s peers and was $9,509 less than the average for all institutions, the PBA reports.

“There is a true need and a true urgency” to support CU, Christman says.

None of that seems to faze Christman. She says she’s always been an “off-the-chart extrovert.” But fund-raising requires more than conviviality, she says.

“You need to be a good listener.”

And it seems to help to have a positive outlook. “This is the best job in the non-profit sector that I can imagine,” she says.