2013 NCAA Convention

Division III Student-Athlete Well-Being – New Trends 

Student-athlete well-being is at the core of every athletics department. However, keeping up with the latest trends to ensure your student-athletes’ well-being is a complex and daunting proposition. This session will explore some of the latest trends, best practices and financial implications in the area of student-athlete well-being. Topics will include: a discussion surrounding the newly created Step UP! Program – a pro-social behavior and bystander intervention program; social media education and best practices; travel policies as they relate to student-athlete well-being; and the NCAA collaboration with NASPA in the area of alcohol and other drug education.

Moderator: Louise McCleary, Director of Division III, NCAA

Louise McCleary joined the NCAA national office as the director of Division III in February 2012.  She works with Division III vice president Dan Dutcher in overseeing the division’s governance committee structure (particularly the Presidents Council and Management Council), developing and implementing the division’s strategic plan and managing the division’s operating budget, among other assignments.

A 20-year veteran in athletics administration, including the last 15 years at Division III institutions, McCleary was director of athletics at Elms College for 10 years (2002-12).  During her tenure, she guided 15 intercollegiate programs, added 11 full‐time coaches and oversaw a $1.7 million field-improvement project.  McCleary also implemented programs that improved student-athlete academic performance, boosting graduation rates above those of the student body.

Before her time at Elms, McCleary was at Vassar College, first as an associate athletics director and then as interim director of athletics in 2001-02.  She worked at Trine University from 1991 to 1997, serving as an assistant basketball coach, sports information director and assistant director of athletics.  She also was an assistant basketball coach at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for two years and at her alma mater, Wellesley College, for one.

McCleary has extensive NCAA Division III committee service, including the Men’s Volleyball Committee (chair), the Championships Committee and regional advisory committees in three sports.

McCleary has a bachelor’s degree in political science and American studies from Wellesley and a master’s degree in sport management from Massachusetts.

Speakers:

Kari Eckheart, Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Services, Gustavus Adolphus College

Kari Eckheart serves as the assistant athletics director for student-athlete services and senior woman administrator at Gustavus Adolphus College.  In addition to working with athletics, Eckheart also works in the Office of Peer Education and Chemical Health as the assistant director.

In her role as assistant athletics director and senior woman administrator, Eckheart serves as the advisor to Student-Athlete Volunteer Educators and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and conducts student-athlete leadership development programs.  In her work with the Office of Peer Education and Chemical Health, Eckheart acts as a liaison between the athletics department and the student life division and focuses her efforts on the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

Previously, Eckheart was the head women’s volleyball coach and health promotion coordinator for Gustavus Adolphus staff and faculty.  During her 13 seasons as head of the volleyball program, Eckheart directed the Gusties to an overall record of 206-163 and a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) mark of 73-68.  Eckheart was honored as MIAC Coach of the Year in 2006.  During her tenure, Eckheart had 14 players earn all-conference honors 20 times, two players named MIAC Defensive Player of the Year, and two players named all-region.

Eckheart received her undergraduate degree in exercise and sport science from Iowa State University and her graduate degree in community health from Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Eckheart has been an active member of many regional and national organizations, and currently serves on the NCAA Student-Athlete Affairs Advisory Group and the delivery working group for the NCAA Division III and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Alcohol and Other Drug Education Collaborative.

Jordan Gipson, Student-Athlete, Lake Forest College

Jordan Gipson is a basketball student-athlete at Lake Forest College of the Midwest Conference.  Currently a junior, he is pursuing a double major in business and politics.  Jordan was born and raised in Chicago.  He thoroughly enjoys traveling and plans on studying abroad in the spring of 2013 in Greece.

Nancy L. Meyer, Director of Women’s Athletics, Calvin College

Nancy Meyer has been a faculty member at Calvin College since 1979 and director of women’s athletics since 1996.  She is also a professor of exercise science and serves as co-director of the exercise science major.  Meyer is a Calvin graduate (1978).  She earned her M.S. in exercise science from the University of Arizona in 1979 and her Ed.D. from the University of Northern Colorado in 1986.

Meyer has a broad sports background, including participation in high school and college team sports and then coaching in individual sports.  Her longest coaching stint was with the women’s cross country team at Calvin from 1986 to 2006, a program that earned two national championships.  She served on the NCAA Division III Track and Field and Cross Country Committee for six years during the mid-1990s.  She has also served Calvin and the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association in numerous leadership positions.

Meyer and her counterpart, director of men’s athletics Jim Timmer, together lead a successful athletics program at Calvin.  Last year, Calvin finished fifth in the Learfield Directors Cup standings and it is a perennial top-10 school in that ranking.  Both Meyer and Timmer were also very involved in the 2009 facility project that brought Calvin one of the finest athletics facilities in Division III, featuring a 50-meter pool, indoor tennis/track and field locations, and 5,000-seat arena for volleyball and basketball.

Pamela Trotman Reid, President, University of Saint Joseph (Connecticut)

Pamela Trotman Reid, Ph.D., became the eighth president of the University of Saint Joseph (Connecticut) (formerly Saint Joseph College) in January 2008.  Since taking office, she has worked to build upon the university’s reputation for academic excellence and ensure its commitment to integrity, women’s leadership and service.  She initiated and successfully launched the university’s first professional doctoral program by creating a School of Pharmacy in downtown Hartford, a move that has garnered widespread acclaim from the Greater Hartford community.  Under her leadership, the size of the graduate program in education tripled with the introduction of off-site classes throughout Connecticut; the program for adult learners was refocused; and undergraduate women’s programs have gained increased recognition for excellence and student success.

Since arriving in Connecticut, Reid’s demonstrated commitment to the community and leadership skills have made her a frequently sought speaker and project collaborator.  She has received a number of honors, including being named among the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut by the Connecticut State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (2009, 2011); Eight Remarkable Women in Business by the Hartford Business Journal (2010); and Hartford’s 50 Most Influential People by Hartford magazine (2010).  She also received a 2011 Polaris Award from Leadership Greater Hartford, and a 2011 Maria Miller Stewart Award from the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund.  She currently serves on several boards and was appointed to the Capital Region Development Authority by Governor Dannel P. Malloy in July 2012.

Reid is a developmental psychologist.  Among the projects she developed, she is most proud of a math and technology enrichment program for middle school girls, which continues to operate in Detroit.  The program, Gaining Options: Girls Investigate Real Life (GO-GIRL), was also replicated in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and, most recently, in West Hartford.

She is nationally known as a scholar in the area of gender and racial issues and also as an active participant in scholarly organizations.  She has numerous published book chapters and articles in psychological journals.  A Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), she was elected president of the APA Society for the Psychology of Women, and served as chair of the APA Committee on Women in Psychology.  She was named among the 100 Distinguished Women in Psychology by the APA (1992), and has received national awards, including the Distinguished Leadership Award given by the APA Committee on Women in Psychology and the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association of Women in Psychology.

Reid holds a B.S. from Howard University, an M.A. from Temple University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.  She has more than three decades of faculty experience in psychology, education and women’s studies at diverse institutions, and has held administrative roles at the City University of New York Graduate School, the University of Michigan, and Roosevelt University.

Gary Williams, Associate Athletics Director, Carthage College

Gary Williams is in his 15th year as a staff member at Carthage College.  A former assistant football coach for 10 seasons at Carthage and an academic advisor, Williams is currently serving as the associate athletics director for education services.  In this capacity, Williams directs Carthage’s First-Year Advising Center and student-athlete services programs. 

In his position at Carthage, Williams mentors and guides students through their transition to college life and provides support, leadership and direction for student-athletes on and off the field.  Williams also directs the efforts for Carthage’s CharacterQuest program for student-athletes, a unique teamwork, leadership and character experiential program held each summer.

Williams was instrumental in the efforts to initiate and develop a Leadership Certificate program at Carthage, which began in the fall of 2008 and provides students leadership development seminars and coaching sessions throughout the school year.  In addition, Williams teaches courses for undergraduate and graduate students in Carthage’s exercise and sport science, education, and entrepreneurial studies in the natural sciences departments in sport and coaching psychology, leadership theory and leadership in sport.

Williams has served the NCAA as a member of the Student-Athlete Affairs Advisory Group, chair of the NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball  Committee, and a member of the NCAA Division III and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Alcohol and Other Drug Education Collaborative delivery working group.  He is a co-founder of the National Collegiate Speakers Association, is an active member with the American Legion-based leadership experience, Badger Boys State, has served as a member of the Board of Directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Racine and Kenosha, is a trustee for St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, is a high school and collegiate basketball official, and co-director and speaker at multiple basketball officiating seminars and camps.  In 2011, he was named commissioner of the Continental Volleyball Conference.

Williams has brought his passion for student-athlete development and student success to hundreds of student-athletes and administrators at numerous high schools, college campuses and conferences across the country by speaking on issues such as motivation, personality awareness, leadership, making smart decisions in social settings and the positive uses of social networking.

Williams earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Carthage and his doctorate in leadership in higher education from Cardinal Stritch University.