Vice President for Advancement, Vocation, and Alumni Engagement
Dr. Kirk Farney assumed duties as Vice President for Advancement, Vocation, and Alumni Engagement at Wheaton College in August 2014. He is responsible to the President for Alumni and Parent Engagement, Center for Vocation and Career, Development, Annual Giving, Gift Planning, Donor Relations, Marketing Communications, Media Relations, and Advancement Services.
Additionally, Kirk holds faculty status as Assistant Professor of History.
Prior to coming to Wheaton, Kirk worked in the international banking arena for 26 years, with roles at J. P. Morgan Securities, Inc., and its merged firms—First Chicago, First Chicago NBD, and Bank One. He most recently served as Managing Director and Global Head of Asset-Backed Finance.
Kirk graduated from Wheaton College with an M.A. in Theological Studies, with a concentration in Historical Theology and Church History, in 1998. He holds a B.S. in Finance and Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.B.A. in Marketing from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and an M.A. in History from the University of Notre Dame. He completed his Ph.D. in American Religious History at Notre Dame, where Wheaton alumnus, Mark A. Noll, served as his advisor.