With 25 years of fundraising
experience, Rick Blessen of Crete is Southeast Community College’s first director
of advancement. Blessen most recently was the development director at Doane
University in Crete. He looks forward to using his experience in higher
education fundraising at SCC.
“Southeast Community College
is providing not only an opportunity for students to have an affordable
top-quality education, but to be educated in high-demand, well-paying fields,”
Blessen said.
Blessen is a Columbus native
who graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993. In addition to
Doane he also worked at Nebraska Educational Television and the Nebraska
Humanities Council. He and his wife, Jennifer Robison, have three children:
Jack, Gus and Belle, who attend Crete Public Schools.
He told his family he wanted
to work somewhere he could leave a lasting legacy.
“I want to look back with a
sense of pride,” he said. “I would love to walk these campuses with my grandkids
some day and show them what we were able to accomplish.”
Blessen is working on
securing funding for many current expansions at SCC, including a new health
sciences building and culinary space in Lincoln, a new diesel technology facility
in Milford and an improved residential and dining space in Beatrice.
Southeast Community College
offers more than 50 career and technical programs in Beatrice, Lincoln and
Milford, as well as online.