Jesse Pisors never forgot how much he enjoyed his time in South Texas working at the University of Texas-Pan American, and now he’s coming back to the area to take on a leadership role at the University of Houston-Victoria.

Jesse Pisors

Pisors recently was hired as vice president for advancement and external relations at UHV and will start the new position on July 13.

“Jesse quickly rose to the top of a rigorous national search and selection process,” UHV Interim President Vic Morgan said. “He’s got the experience and background to lead the Office of University Advancement & External Relations as UHV grows and becomes a destination university.”

Pisors will leave a job as executive director of development and alumni relations at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. In that position, he leads alumni relations, development and advancement services, in addition to grant-seeking efforts. He has secured several major gifts and commitments for the university ranging from $500,000 to $3 million and is in the process of developing a major fundraising campaign. Pisors’ leadership contributed to a rise in alumni donors during his tenure by more than 30 percent and all donors by nearly 25 percent.

“Even though Pennsylvania is absolutely beautiful, my wife and I never forgot how much we liked our time in Texas,” Pisors said. “We enjoy a bilingual and bicultural life as a family, and it will be nice to live in a region where we can again experience some of these cultural elements that are important to us.”

Vic Morgan

As UHV’s senior development officer, Pisors, who is fluent in Spanish, will provide strategic and operational leadership for the university’s corporate and foundation relations, planned giving, major gift procurement, comprehensive and capital campaigns, alumni relations, development, constituent relations and community affairs.

Pisors will report directly to Morgan and will be a member of both the UHV Executive Committee and the President’s Cabinet.

His said his initial priorities will be getting to know community and university leaders, restructuring the Office of University Advancement & External Relations and strengthening the university’s alumni program.

“I have a particular passion for building university alumni programs and making sure that we are serving and engaging with our former students as effectively as possible,” said Pisors, who previously was chairman of the alumni foundation at his alma mater, Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.

With 15 years of higher education administration experience, Pisors had two different positions from 2010 to 2014 at Oral Roberts. He was senior director of development and alumni relations and director of alumni relations and annual fund. In addition, he worked as general manager of dining services at several universities, including UT-Pan Am, and was the principal of Instituto Las Américas de Parral, a private school offering bilingual education for kindergarten through 12th-graders in Chihuahua, Mexico.

For the last two years, Pisors also has taught face to face and online as an adjunct humanities and history instructor at Oral Roberts. He hopes to continue teaching if he has the time, he said.

Pisors has both his bachelor’s degree in history and his master’s degree in school administration from Oral Roberts. He also is in the process of earning a Doctor of Philosophy in higher education administration from the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

He and his wife, Nayeli, have a daughter, Andrea, who will be at freshman at Oral Roberts this fall, and a son, Joshua, who will be a high school sophomore.

Moving to Victoria this summer will give Pisors and his family time to get settled in before fall classes start.

“I’m excited about the direction UHV is going, and I think there is nothing but potential for growth,” he said.