President Heidi Hadsell is pleased to announce that Mark J. Drozdowski, Ed.D., has joined Hartford Seminary as Director of Development and External Relations.

“Mark brings considerable experience, knowledge, energy and fun to our advancement work at Hartsem,” President Hadsell said. “He is warmly welcome and already much appreciated.”

Drozdowski has 25 years of experience in higher education advancement and has held senior executive positions at the University of New Haven, Fitchburg State University, Franklin Pierce University, Newbury College, and the University of Connecticut Foundation.

“It’s an honor to be joining such a renowned institution as Hartford Seminary,” Drozdowski said. “The Seminary’s mission of affirming religious diversity and promoting peace is both timely and timeless, and I look forward to helping advance its incredibly important work.”

As Director of Development and External Relations, Drozdowski will oversee all fund raising efforts within the Seminary: major gifts, annual fund, planned giving, new donor development, special fund raising initiatives, and capital campaigns. Along with the Director of Communications and External Relations, he will provide a coordinated program of marketing and outreach.

Drozdowski holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree and doctorate in higher education from Harvard University. He has written extensively on American higher education for The New York Times, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant and Salon.com, among other publications and websites, and is the author of A Peculiar Calling: Confessions of a College Fund Raiser and The Insider’s Guide to Graduate Programs in Education.