DULUTH, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Duluth announced Laura Schnell as its new Athletic and Corporate Annual Giving Officer.
Schnell had been the Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Support and Student-Athlete Development since 2018 for UMD. During that time, Schnell oversaw all aspects of athletic academic support and student-athlete development programming. In addition, she served as the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Liaison, NCAA appointed Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Designee (ADID) and was the Tennis, Men's and Women's Basketball sport administrator.
As SAAC Liaison, UMD was honored as the 2022 NCAA Division II Award of Excellence recipient for their work with the Green Bandana Project and mental health awareness.
"I have enjoyed working with our Bulldog student-athletes over the last five years to help them achieve success in the Classroom, in Competition and in Community and look forward to the opportunity to support each program in a new way," said Schnell. "I want to thank all of the coaches and student-athletes for their collaboration over the years, as well as, Chief Development Officer Tricia Bunten and Director of Athletics Forrest Karr for their support as I transition into this new role."
In Schnell's new role, she will coordinate and execute annual giving strategies that increase donor participation and fundraising resources for Bulldog Athletics and corporate annual gifts across UMD. Schnell will oversee all athletic annual giving including but not limited to the Bulldog Club, parent appeals and all special campaigns.
"Laura did an incredible job building the academic support program for Bulldog Athletics," said UMD Director of Athletics Forrest Karr. "We are very fortunate that she will continue to work on behalf of Bulldog student-athletes by helping coaches and administrators connect with supporters and generate revenue for our programs."
Before joining UMD, Schnell was at Purdue University for four years -- in 2012-13 as a graduate assistant, from 2013-15 as academic support services for football and in 2017-18 as Assistant Director of Academic Support Services. Schnell also worked at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus from 2015-2017 as an Academic Advisor for women's hockey, women's track & field/cross country and men's & women's gymnastics.
The Grand Rapids native graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2011 with a Bachelor's degree in sport management and earned her Masters degree in sport pedagogy and administration from Purdue in 2013.
