Andrea Tawney, Ph.D., is vice president for the Office of Institutional Advancement at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, where she is responsible for fundraising operations for the institution. Before joining TTUHSC El Paso, Tawney served as New Mexico State University’s vice president for university advancement and marketing and communications and president of the NMSU Foundation. Under Tawney’s leadership, the foundation launched the most ambitious cash campaign in the NMSU system’s history, with a goal of raising $125 million. Within five years, her team raised more than $100 million in cash and pledges and set record fundraising marks two years in a row in 2017 and 2018. In 2016, she was named one of Albuquerque Business First’s 40 under Forty, and in 2019, a 2019 Women of Influence for her professional achievements, leadership and contributions to the community and impact in New Mexico.
Tawney has worked in higher education for 16 years. Prior to NMSU, she served as the Director of Development for the Schools of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas. She also served four years of active duty in the U.S. Air Force. She earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education Studies from Texas Tech University, with a focus on the predictors of academic success for first-generation college students. She holds a Master of Education and a B.A.S. in Justice Systems, Policy and Planning from Northern Arizona University. Selected to participate in the 2021 Aspen Executive Seminar on Leadership, Values, and the Good Society.