Dr. Kimberly Russell | Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Kimberly Russell, MA, EdD, is the vice president of institutional advancement at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, executive director of the UNTHSC Foundation and serves on the President’s Cabinet. Dr. Russell supervises the Institutional Advancement staff and manages a portfolio of major gift donors and prospective donors in all phases of qualification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. She also works closely with UNTHSC Foundation board members to ensure that the foundation’s priorities align with HSC’s strategic and operational needs.

Prior to joining HSC, Dr. Russell worked at Texas Woman’s University for five years. While at TWU, she led all fundraising campaigns and activities for the TWU System in Denton, Dallas and Houston. While there, she implemented effective alumni engagement strategies, managed the TWU Foundation’s operations, and built stronger donor, alumni and community relationships.

She was instrumental in increasing fundraising support each year and worked closely with TWU leadership to successfully secure a groundbreaking $15 million gift, the largest single gift in the university’s history. Additionally, she drove the growth of foundation assets by more than 30% and played a pivotal role in preparing the university for the public launch of its first-ever comprehensive campaign.

Prior to her role at TWU, Dr. Russell served as chancellor at Louisiana State University’s regional campus in Eunice, where she and her team increased enrollment by more than 22%, expanded academic programs in nursing and health sciences, created one of the first early-college high schools in Louisiana and established three new intercollegiate sports programs.

From 1999 until 2015, she served Tyler Junior College as executive director of the TJC Foundation and vice president for Institutional Advancement. During her tenure, the college secured two of the largest gifts in its history and completed the construction of a new nursing and health sciences facility.

Dr. Russell earned both a master’s degree in English and a doctorate in higher education administration from UNT. Her daughter is a 2024 alumna from HSC’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.