ISU Foundation President Tom Mitchell announced last week that he will continue to work at Iowa State.

Mitchell was a candidate for vice president for Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Washington in Seattle. He said the decision came after careful deliberation.

“I just think that there’s no better place to be than Iowa State,” he said. “When you bring in the factor of the quality of the individuals, the value that those individuals live their lives by and the mission that we’re trying to accomplish at Iowa State, we – Peggy and I – are proud and pleased to be a part of that effort.”

Another reason to stay, he said, was the opportunity to work with ISU President Gregory Geoffroy. Mitchell said cooperative plans are already in the works.

“We have met and discussed a number of ideas regarding projects that we could develop,” he said. “We are in the final stages of developing a new portfolio that we could raise private gifts for the next fiscal year starting July 1.”

Mitchell said it was too early to comment on the contents of the portfolio.

“It depends on private-gift support that we can generate interest from,” he said. “It also depends on the number and the quality of people that we can get to support those individuals.”

The departure to Purdue of Rab Mukerjea, former ISU assistant to the president for budget and planning, and Murray Blackwelder, vice president for External Affairs, won’t impact Iowa State’s fund-raising resources, Mitchell said.

“[Blackwelder] has not been directly involved with our fund-raising operation for four years,” he said. “Losing someone of Murray’s caliber who has a comprehensive understanding of external relations and how you can accomplish many things through the efforts of many creates a void.”

Phyllis Lepke, senior vice president of the ISU Foundation, said Mitchell’s decision to stay shows the strength of his relationship with Iowa State.

“I would say that Tom’s decision to stay at Iowa State is of great benefit for us,” she said. “The success of any fundraising team is based on relationships. Tom has a good relationship with our faculty and staff, the university and administration, and of course with our donors. They really enjoy working with him.”