The longtime Salem nonprofit leader will oversee strategic initiatives and community engagement as Corban develops new partnerships and projects outside the university.
Former Salem Kroc Center Executive Director Tony Frazier has joined Corban University in a newly created leadership role focused on developing community partnerships and strategic initiatives.
Frazier began Aug. 10 as Corban’s executive director of strategic initiatives and community engagement, according to an announcement from Salem University. The position will put him in charge of developing external projects and partnerships that Corban says will be revealed in the coming months.
The move brings a familiar figure in Salem’s nonprofit and workforce-development community to one of the city’s major higher-education institutions.
Frazier led the Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, where his work included expanding educational and workforce opportunities for young people who had fallen outside traditional school or career pathways.
Among those efforts was an on-site GED program operated in partnership with Chemeketa Community College. The program was designed to reduce barriers for young people who had left traditional schooling by providing instruction, tutoring and other support at the Kroc Center.
Frazier also helped launch I-Build, an eight-week construction and workforce-development program that gives teenagers hands-on training while connecting them with education and employment opportunities. The program’s first group included 24 students who helped construct sheds later converted into shelter cottages for Church at the Park. The initiative later received a $500,000 grant from the Mountain West Center for Community Excellence.
His work earned him the inaugural Nonprofit Leadership Award from the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce during its First Citizen Awards Banquet in April.
At Corban, Frazier said he sees an opportunity to apply that community-focused approach to higher education.
“I am excited to join a team that is willing to anticipate change rather than simply respond to it,” Frazier said in the university’s announcement. “Together with community partners, we will explore new possibilities that strengthen Corban’s mission, enhance student experience, and create lasting value for the Salem community.”
The appointment is also a return to Frazier’s alma mater. He graduated in 1992 from Western Baptist College, the institution now known as Corban University.
Corban President John Mark Yeats said the university wants Frazier to help strengthen its connections beyond campus as Corban continues to grow.
Corban reported last fall that it welcomed its largest incoming class since 2020. New traditional undergraduate enrollment increased more than 9%, including a 13% increase in first-time freshmen, while its overall student population reached a three-year high.
Exactly what Frazier’s first major external initiatives will involve has not yet been disclosed. Corban said additional projects developed through his new role will be announced in the coming months.