The Office of Advancement has named Wendell Collins as the first Director of Development for the new School of Data Science. Collins will report to Katie Reid Shevlin, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, and will work in close partnership with Data Science Dean Philip Bourne and Associate Director Arlyn Burgess.
Collins joins UVA from Princeton University, where she served for 14 years as Director of Corporate Relations for the Bendheim Center for Finance. In this capacity, she ran the program’s longtime Corporate Affiliates program, career and leadership development initiatives, as well as alumni relations and admissions outreach. Her partnerships with alumni and industry affiliates resulted in 100% career placement over a number of years, contributing to the No. 1 ranking of Princeton’s Master in Finance program by QuantNet and Risk.net.
Before joining Princeton, Collins was Director of Corporate Communications for The Associated Press, Marketing Communications Manager at Dow Jones, and a Director (PR, marketing and training) at Merrill Lynch. She received a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Political Science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
As a senior member of the Advancement and Data Science teams, she will work closely with the entire UVA alumni and academic community.