(C) El Paso Matters.org
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UTEP’s fundraising leader under Title IX investigations [1]
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Date: 2025-04-30
Jake Logan, who leads the University of Texas at El Paso’s fundraising team, has not been in the office for months as he faces in-house investigations into allegations of inappropriate conduct. Neither Logan nor UTEP have explained his absence.
Logan’s team has broken institutional fundraising records for four straight fiscal years. In 2024, his office raised more than $50.5 million. That money goes toward research, student scholarships, resources such as the UTEP Food Pantry, and upgrades to learning spaces that benefit many of the more than 25,000 students on campus.
In Logan’s 2024 performance review, UTEP President Heather Wilson wrote that Logan was brought in to completely rebuild Institutional Advancement. She credited him with putting in place the people and processes to enhance how Institutional Advancement serves the university.
He has been a familiar face in local political and business circles. His office engages alumni, secures financial resources and builds strong relationships with external stakeholders.
Logan has not been on campus much if at all since early February. The university has made no formal announcement of Logan’s absence, and neither the university or Logan have responded to questions about his absence.
Gary Edens, the former long-time vice president for student affairs, has been named as the acting vice president for Institutional Advancement in several university communications, including on its “Delegations of Authority” web page Feb. 19. Edens is also a professor of practice in the university’s Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations.
A March 17 letter from the University of Texas System, which asked the state attorney general for permission to withhold records sought by El Paso Matters, stated that Logan is the subject of at least two in-house investigations under Title IX – the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational programs.
These follow another inquiry by UTEP’s Office of Human Resources into allegations of “inappropriate behavior” at a 2023 office holiday party. Logan denied the allegations, the HR report shows.
The report stated that the behavior was confirmed by an investigation and that Wilson would be informed. It said there was no need to interview additional staff because the initial interviews confirmed the woman’s complaints about Logan’s behavior at the party.
“Jake denied the behavior even though a third party confirmed the behavior,” the report states.
In his annual performance reviews, Wilson gave Logan excellent evaluations, including in April 2024 after HR informed her about its findings from the holiday party. The evaluation made no mention of the incident.
“Jake has high ethical standards,” Wilson wrote in that evaluation. “He demonstrates a passion for and commitment to serving the students and families we are trusted to help.”
El Paso Matters sent open records requests to UTEP in early February requesting any letters of resignation or termination, exit interviews, performance evaluations and reports or findings of investigations into Logan since he started in May 2020. The university released his performance evaluations and a redacted HR report on the allegations from the holiday party, but so far has not provided other documents.
El Paso Matters followed that up in late February with an additional Freedom of Information Act request for documents regarding Title IX complaints filed against Logan during his time at UTEP, as well as findings and payments that resulted from the complaints.
The university sent the request to the UT System office, which asked the state’s Office of Attorney General for authorization to withhold the documents from El Paso Matters. The university considered the information confidential and involved “ethics and standards of conduct.” The release of the information would interfere with the ongoing compliance investigation by UTEP’s Office of Institutional Compliance, according to the UT System letter.
An April 28 letter from the Attorney General’s Office to the UT System allows UTEP to withhold most of the information requested by El Paso Matters.
According to the UT System letter, the other investigations were the result of Title IX complaints, which involve potential sex-based discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual violence.
The HR report stated that the incident it investigated occurred during a gift exchange segment at an afternoon holiday party Dec. 15, 2023, at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Montecillo on the Westside.There were about 50 people at the party.
As participants threw pom-pom “snowballs” at each other, Logan went behind an unnamed female colleague who was the event co-emcee, gave her a bear hug and made her a human shield despite her efforts to get away, the report states. The hold lifted the colleague’s blouse. Some partiers said the conduct was “inappropriate,” according to the HR report.
The employee – whose name is blacked out in the report released by UTEP – was given options on how to proceed, including filing Title IX or Equal Employment Opportunity Office reports, but she chose to have HR speak with Logan.
“(The employee) felt uncomfortable and embarrassed that this happened,” according to the HR report.
On Feb. 20, 2024, an HR representative met with Logan and told him that the incident was confirmed by a third party. He countered by saying that Shannon Jarnegan, associate vice president for advancement services, said the behavior did not happen.
HR reminded Logan how the consumption of alcohol at these events affects the environment. According to the report, Logan said he sets a limit for himself to not have more than one drink every 90 minutes.
Wilson’s evaluations praised Logan’s reorganization of the office, his team-building ability and four straight record-setting fiscal years in annual fundraising. In fiscal year 2024, his salary was $376,800, including an $1,800 communication device allowance.
Logan, in his LinkedIn page, mentioned how he secured a $25 million naming gift for the Woody L. Hunt College of Business, $20 million in an estate commitment, and $14 million in industry support to help restart the university’s undergraduate program in mining engineering.
UTEP celebrated a “Picks Up” moment at its announcement of a $25 million gift from the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation. From left, Jake Logan, UTEP vice president for institutional advancement, UTEP President Heather Wilson, Woody Hunt, Gayle Hunt and James B. Milliken, chancellor of the University of Texas System. (Daniel Perez/El Paso Matters)
He came to UTEP from Ball State University in Indiana, where he was vice president for Advancement and president of the institution’s University Foundation. Prior to Ball State, Logan worked at the University of Missouri, the University of Oregon and the University of Florida.
According to a UTEP news release about Logan’s hiring, he earned a bachelor’s in public relations from the University of Florida and a master’s in nonprofit management from the University of Oregon.
In Logan’s 2024 job review, Wilson wrote that Logan and his team hold each other to high standards, while creating a supportive and engaged environment. She mentioned that in a self-evaluation survey that includes questions about workplace environment and job clarity, Institutional Advancement staff showed a high level of employee engagement and job satisfaction. The scores increased “substantially,” Wilson wrote.
“Building long-term success for UTEP grounded in high ethical standards is important to Jake,” Wilson wrote in Logan’s 2022 evaluation. A year later, she included an anecdote in his review about how Logan showed leadership and conviction by letting a staff member go. “In too many instances, unprofessional behavior is tolerated when a person is successful raising money,” Wilson wrote.
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[1] Url:
https://elpasomatters.org/2025/04/30/utep-jake-logan-investigation-title-ix-heather-wilson/
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