EARTH University, a Costa Rican institution whose fundraising arm is based in Atlanta, has named a new vice president of development.
Ingrid Blanton will relocate to Costa Rica to oversee all fundraising and development operations for EARTH, which teaches students from all over the world about sustainable agriculture and economic development.
Ms. Blanton comes to the position from Emory University, where she was associate vice president of gift planning. She is an attorney by training and practiced law in Virginia for many years before moving into the nonprofit sector. She was selected after the conclusion of a personnel search that considered 250 applicants. Though she will move to Costa Rica, she will often travel back to Atlanta and around the U.S. for fundraising events.
EARTH was founded in 1990 and has graduated some 1,500 students. Because its model focuses on preparing people from low-income communities to return home and impact their areas for the long term, the university provides full or partial scholarships to 80 percent of its student body.
The school is based in Limon, Costa Rica, on the country’s Caribbean coast. It also has a campus in the northwestern city of Liberia, which GlobalAtlanta visited in 2009 to explore how education initiatives from Georgia are helping change the human-capital landscape in the country.
Carlos Murrillo, director of EARTH’s La Flor campus, said at the time that Atlanta is a great place for the university’s foundation to be based because of its easy access from both campuses.
Delta Air Lines Inc. has nonstop flights from Atlanta to both San Jose and Liberia, where the airport is only five minutes’ drive from the campus.
For more information, visit www.earth.ac.cr or for more on the foundation or how to contribute, visit www.earth-usa.org.
Related:
Changing Costa Rica With Education
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