Southeast Community College Hires Rick Blessen as Director of Advancement

With 25 years of fundraising experience, Rick Blessen of Crete has been named Southeast Community College’s (www.southeast.edu) first director of advancement. Blessen most recently was the development director at Doane University in Crete. He looks forward to using his experience in higher education fundraising at SCC.

“Southeast Community College is providing not only an opportunity for students to have an affordable top-quality education, but to be educated in high-demand, well-paying fields,” Blessen said.

Blessen is a Columbus native who graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993. In addition to Doane he also worked at Nebraska Educational Television and the Nebraska Humanities Council. He and his wife, Jennifer Robison, have three children: Jack, Gus and Belle, who attend Crete Public Schools.

He told his family he wanted to work somewhere he could leave a lasting legacy.

“I want to look back with a sense of pride,” he said. “I would love to walk these campuses with my grandkids some day and show them what we were able to accomplish.”

Blessen is working on securing funding for many current expansions at SCC, including a new health sciences building and culinary space in Lincoln, a new diesel technology facility in Milford and an improved residential and dining space in Beatrice.

Southeast Community College offers more than 50 career and technical programs in Beatrice, Lincoln and Milford, as well as online. For more information, visit www.southeast.edu.