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Humans of Fort Lewis College: Mark Jastorff
What's your title, and what do you do on your job? And how long have you been at FLC?
My title is Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director of the FLC Foundation, having joined FLC in July 2014.
My vocation encompasses virtually every corner of campus and community. I work with a team of dedicated professionals and educators who are shaping the future for Fort Lewis College, our students, alumni and friends. That’s the bureaucratic way of saying we are making friends and raising dollars for FLC.
What do you like best about working at FLC, and why?
There are so many great things and people here. Finding and creating opportunities to tell our story and to make a difference in lives is one of those things that drives me.
I’d love to live the transformation, and then be able look back with those I work with, and be able to say, "Look what we accomplished. We helped shape the future of this place and the FLC experience." How cool is it to be able to do that for your career?”
Where are you from, and how did you get from there to here?
I grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota and have spent virtually my entire professional life in higher education. Every stop of my 30+ year career has been to start, re-energize or reshape an advancement program. I’d like to say I’m a planner, but basically opportunities present themselves and I tend to grab them.
I got “here” at FLC when I received a call asking me to check out the opportunity for a new position as Vice President. I came, I saw and I learned and just knew that this was the right place at the time for me and for the Fort.
What's your favorite thing to do outside of work, and why do you love it?
I’m a former deejay so I spend way too much time and money playing on iTunes. I dabble in radio play-by-play and Dene allows me to call the Skyhawk home basketball games. But mostly I love going to everything I can on campus -- plays, concerts, lectures, you name it. This is how I grew up – total immersion into campus life.
What's an interesting thing about you that most people don't know?
I once climbed to the top of Mount Rushmore as part of a wedding party (it was an authorized visit). I also have a collection of 3,000 records (yes – vinyl!) with a matching number of CDs, and I still own a reel-to-reel tape deck circa 1980.
Please share one bit of advice or a favorite quote you can offer about ... anything.
Whenever I hear “if …” I think of the homily: “If a frog had wings, he wouldn’t whomp his tail every time he jumped.”
It is a great reminder to focus on what you can influence, and not get hung up on things outside of your control.