A quest to return to New England enticed Britta-Lena Lasko to Saint Michael’s College of Vermont. Ms. Lasko, prospect researcher for the University of Virginia from 2006 to the present, was named prospect researcher for the Saint Michael’s institutional advancement office, starting June 7.
“This is an opportunity to take the skills I developed at the University of Virginia to a place where I can make a difference,” Ms. Lasko said. “I’ve always known I wanted to return to a small liberal arts college setting,” she added. Ms. Lasko said the University of Virginia is just completing a $3 billion fund drive, one of the largest campaigns ever of an American university.
“I hope to bring prospect research to the forefront at Saint Michael’s; I hope to really help fundraising efforts,” she said.
Prior to joining the University of Virginia in 2006, Ms. Lasko was the on-site program manager at the Center for the Constitution located at James Madison’s home Montpelier in Virginia, 2005-2006.
Ms. Lasko earned her bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in anthropology, with a minor in music, from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1999. While at Bowdoin she was a solo cellist with area orchestras. She was a private cello instructor and cello teacher at Fingerdance Studio in Charlottesville, Va., from 2004 to the present.
Ms. Lasko earned an MS degree in photography from the Brooks Institute of Photography of Santa Barbara, Calif., in 2003 with a thesis titled, “A Photo Documentary Study of Contemporary Women in the Maine Fishing Industry.” Ms. Lasko has done photography and writing for magazines, including American Craft, National Fisherman, Downeast, Maine Boats and Harbors, Yankee and The Island Journal.
Her photography has been exhibited at the Salt Center for Documentary Field Studies, Portland, Maine (1998); Bowdoin College (1999), Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, Calif., (2000); the Fisherman’s Forum, Rockland, Maine (2003); Bees & Brooms at C&O Gallery, Charlottesville, Va., (2007) and at Barn Swallow Gallery, Ivy, Va., (2008). Her work is also owned in a number of private collections including the Salt Center, the Maine Maritime Museum, Bowdoin College, Point of Action (Boston), Ziegler (San Francisco), and other galleries.