Danielle Yearout has been hired as the new vice president of university advancement. Yearout has worked with President Lynne Murray for years prior to accepting this position at Baker. Vice President of University Advancement Danielle Yearout.

Murray and Yearout worked closely together at Gallaudet University, an institution for the deaf and hard of hearing, in Washington D.C., together raising more than $20 million over four years.

“Dr. Lynne Murray is really an amazing leader and she is probably the reason I am relocating my family to the Kansas area,” Yearout said. “She is really that great to work for.”

Yearout’s position was recently created in order to have someone dedicated to raising funds for the university.

Yearout hopes to seek out more coporations and foundations that would like to invest in Baker’s future. The hope is that the return for those businesses is jobs for students upon graduation; businesses that invest help Baker accomplish many goals.

“Really our primary goal in development is to advance the programs, provide more scholarships for students, to provide more opportunities, increase our enrollment, increase our brand, people’s investments in the community,” Yearout said.

Yearout, who is fluent in sign language, originally did not plan to leave the deaf community.

“I didn’t have any plans to uproot and relocate, but Baker is a great place and, with Dr. Murray here, the opportunity presented itself and I just couldn’t resist it,” Yearout said.

Yearout and her family, a husband and two young children, are still in the process of moving to their new home. Yearout and her husband are both originally from the Midwest: Yearout from Michigan and her husband from Kansas City. She thinks the community is wonderful and is looking forward to returning to her roots.

“I feel like everyone knows my name already,” Yearout said. “It’s just been really touching, to be honest. It’s very different from the [Washington] D.C. culture. I think I had been missing it. The traditions, the feel of home and the family, there’s something really special about that.”

Yearout commends Baker for having its second female president in a row. She said her main goal is to “support the president in her vision.”

Chris Smith, special assistant to the president for communication and outreach, said that Yearout seems like part of the campus, even though she has been here only a few weeks.

“She’s been involved ever since she has been on campus,” Smith said. “She brings a multitude of expertise over here. She has tons of experience in PR and marketing. She and Lynne have a really close working relationship. You can tell that they have had a lot of success together.”

Yearout has worked in public relations and marketing jobs for a while, so she understands how to manage the newly-consolidated Marketing and Public Relations Departments at Baker.

Public Relations Director Steve Rottinghaus believes she will do a great job operating the departments.

“I know when you consolidate you don’t want a lot of overlapping duties,” Rottinghaus said. “I think she will help us be effective with that lead us from an operational standpoint.”

Yearout has already showed her Baker pride by purchasing orange sweaters for her children and even an orange tutu. She said she is privileged to be part of the Baker family.