2013 NCAA Convention

NCAA Educational Session: Creating Fair Learning and Competitive Environments:  Serving the LGBTQ Community in Athletics 

One of the most highly requested inclusion training topics by NCAA schools is addressing fair environments for LGBTQ student-athletes and staff. This session’s panelists will discuss recent campus-climate research, new resources, strategies and best practices for athletics department efforts to maximize the educational experience of LGBTQ student-athletes and an inclusive culture for athletics personnel.

Moderator: Karen Morrison, Director of Gender Inclusion, NCAA

Karen Morrison is director of gender inclusion for the NCAA and is responsible for overseeing the education of the membership, national office, public and media on women’s issues in sport, Title IX, LGBTQ issues, and women’s professional development and leadership.  She is the Association’s primary spokesperson on Title IX and gender issues, and emerging sports for women, and is contact resource for the membership’s senior women administrators.

Morrison joined the NCAA in September 2006.  She serves as primary liaison to the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics and spearheads the NCAA Woman of the Year Award selections.  She serves on the Alliance of Women Coaches Advisory Board of Advisors.

In her tenure, Morrison has redesigned the NCAA’s gender equity resources and website, directed NCAA forums and Convention sessions, and shepherded projects on work/life balance, sand volleyball, gender equity planning, pregnant and parenting student-athlete resources, inclusion of transgender student-athletes, Title IX best practices, the NCAA Be Well initiative and effective use of the senior woman administrator role.  She has been instrumental in developing NCAA Women’s Leadership Forums and working with national affiliates and professional development programs such as the NCAA Women Coaches Academies and the NCAA/National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators Institutes.

Morrison also works with several national advocacy partners to improve the experience of women in higher education.  In 2011, she was named NACWAA’s Administrator of the Year for Conferences/Organizations.  In 2012, Morrison was honored as an Alliance of Women Coaches Title IX Advocate Award winner and Pride 12 magazine Game Changer on national LGBTQ advocacy in sports. 

Before arriving at the NCAA, she served as associate athletics director/SWA at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  In her 10-year campus administrative career, Morrison managed 14 men’s and women’s sports, and was responsible for compliance/financial aid, policy development and education, Title IX compliance, and NCAA certification.  She served on numerous NCAA and Big 12 Conference committees.

Before her move to administration, she was assistant women’s basketball coach for the Buffs for six years as they won multiple Big 8 Conference titles and earned Elite Eight and Sweet 16 berths and top-10 rankings.

Morrison earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame Law School and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma, where she played basketball for the Sooners.

Speakers:

Nevin Caple, Co-Founder, Freedom Sounds’, Br{ache the Silence Campaign

Nevin Caple is a co-founder of Freedom Sounds’, Br{ache the Silence Campaign, a non-profit organization created to advance LGBT inclusion in intercollegiate athletics with a focus on the women’s sports community.  Caple has spoken at numerous venues, including the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association LGBT Workshop and the Wharton Sports Business Academy.  She is a contributing writer on inclusion for Coaching Women’s Basketball magazine, a member of the Wade Trophy Committee for women’s basketball and a participant of the first national LGBT Sports Summit hosted by Nike.

Caple works as the assistant director of major gifts-New York City for the University of Pennsylvania.  She played Division I women’s basketball at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Metropolitan Campus, and now resides in New York City.

Pat Griffin, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Dr. Pat Griffin is professor emerita in the Social Justice Education Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and former director of Changing the Game: The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Sports Project and the Women’s Sports Foundation’s It Takes A Team project.  She regularly consults with the NCAA on LGBT issues in sports and is a recognized speaker who leads workshops with college athletics departments.  

She is the author of “Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbians and Homophobia in Sports,” co-editor of “Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice,” and co-author of “On The Team: Equal Opportunities for Transgender Student-Athletes, 2010.”  In 2007, Griffin was named one of the top 100 sport educators in the United States by the Institute for International Sport.  She was the 2011 recipient of the R. Tait McKenzie Award from the American Alliance of Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance. In 2012, Griffin was one of the organizers for the first national LGBT Sports Summit hosted by Nike.

Griffin was a basketball, field hockey and swimming and diving student-athlete at the University of Maryland, College Park.  She coached high school basketball, field hockey and softball in Montgomery County, Maryland, and coached swimming and diving at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Susan Rankin, Associate Professor of Education, Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Susan Rankin has presented and published widely on the impact of sexism, racism and heterosexism in academia and in intercollegiate athletics.  Rankin’s current research focuses on the assessment of institutional climate and providing program planners and policy makers with recommended strategies to improve the campus climate for under-served communities.

Rankin has collaborated with more than 90 institutions/organizations in implementing assessments and developing action plans.  In her advocacy work, Rankin is a founding member of the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals and the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition.  Rankin is the recipient of the ACPA 2008 Voice of Inclusion Medallion.  Her recent publications include “The Lives of Transgender People,” “Campus Pride 2012 LGBT College Athlete National Report” and “2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People.”

Hudson Taylor, Executive Director, Athlete Ally

Hudson Taylor, the founding executive director of Athlete Ally, is a competing athlete and wrestling coach at Columbia University.  He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2010 as a three-time Division I All-America wrestler.

Committed to civil rights and social justice, Hudson wore a Human Rights Campaign sticker on his wrestling headgear in college to show solidarity — as a heterosexual athlete ally — with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community.  This single act drew media attention across the country and prompted thousands of inspiring, personal messages.

With this encouragement, Hudson became committed to speaking louder as an advocate and founded the non-profit organization Athlete Ally as a resource to encourage athletes, coaches, parents, fans and other members of the sports community to respect all individuals involved in sports, regardless of perceived or actual sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.  He was recently honored for his work by PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) with the 2011 Straight for Equality in Sports Award.