Who is the point person for women's issues at the national office? That's a question with a simple answer now that the national office has its own senior woman administrator.

Though many different people in many departments in the national office administer women's championships, market those championships or plan the annual Title IX seminar, a single high-level point person is now charged with overseeing, consulting and advocating issues related to women in intercollegiate athletics and also women in the national office.

It's been about a year since Judy Sweet joined the Association to serve as vice-president of championships and also as the Association's first national office senior woman administrator.

It was a good fit for Sweet, a former NCAA membership president and longtime director of athletics at the University of California, San Diego. Sweet was one of the first women in the United States to administer joint men's and women's athletics programs when she was named AD at UC San Diego in 1975. Sweet supervised 23 sports programs at the school over a 24-year period, and she also has served on 20 different NCAA committees, including the NCAA Council and the NCAA Executive Committee.

"In establishing the SWA role in the national office, we were fortunate to be able to attract someone of Judy Sweet's background and expertise," said NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey. "She has brought a new dimension of expertise in her leadership role."

An important and unique role

Senior woman administrators are nothing new on campus. First called primary woman administrators (PWA) when the NCAA membership established the designation in 1981, the title was updated to senior woman administrator in 1990. But there never had been a senior woman administrator at the national office.

"The SWA designation at the institutional level has been an integral part of athletics administration on campuses for years," said Cheryl L. Levick, athletics director at Santa Clara University and former chair of the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics. "It seemed to make sense to have that important role at the national office as well."

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the SWA designation was one way to ensure that women stayed involved in the NCAA governance structure, but it became about much more than that.

"It became a way of indicating that there was a female in the structure who had significant administrative responsibilities," Sweet said. "Initially, designating an SWA was not required, but over the years the membership's strength of commitment to the designation has increased. Now, the challenge is to make sure that SWAs on campus are given appropriate responsibilities, are actively involved with decision-making within the athletics department and also have the opportunity to participate in a meaningfu way."

The CWA began lobbying for an SWA to be appointed at the national office a few years ago. It was a position that the committee thought made sense at all levels -- at the institution, the conference and the national office.

"At the national office, just as there was on the campus level, there needed to be a single, designated point person over women's issues," Levick said. "There needed to be one person that the media, the ADs and the marketing people could turn to when they needed someone to speak for the Association on behalf of women's issues. Now there's the national office SWA. It's a very important step for the NCAA."

Members of the committee also thought that the national office could benefit from the leadership of a senior woman administrator, just as institutions had benefited on individual campuses.

"Our committee felt very strongly that institutions benefited from the opportunity to create a meaningful senior woman administrator role and bring a capable manager to the athletics senior management team on campus," said Peggy Bradley-Doppes, athletics director at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. "It seemed like an opportune time for the national office to create a senior management team member who could undertake the important and unique role of the SWA."

The CWA also recognized the important role an SWA could play at the conference level, and the Division I membership gave final approval to legislation in November specifying a senior woman administrator at Division I conference offices.

"It creates consistency," Levick said. "Now, there's a senior woman administrator on the campus level, the conference level and in the national office."

In her role as national office SWA, Sweet's duties range from chairing task forces and advising senior management to participating in exit interviews and serving as a role model for other women in the office.

Sweet serves as chair of the internal Gender Equity and Title IX Issues Management Team, which has undertaken an internal survey of NCAA employees and is working on a gender-equity plan for the national office. Like Sweet's role as SWA, the idea of a gender-equity plan for the national office is relatively new.

"It's consistent with the requirement in Division I that institutions have a gender-equity plan," Sweet said. "And the focus truly has been on gender equity, recognizing that, out of necessity on campus, most gender-equity plans have taken the direction of trying to address discrepancies that have affected women. Here at the national office, we have tried to use a balanced approach with recommendations that not only address concerns women have, but also concerns men have."

Sweet noted that without scholarships and budgetary issues that sometimes exist by teams -- and thus by gender -- on campus, assembling a gender-equity plan for the national office can be complex.

"We're looking at things like opportunity, respect, professional growth, attitudes and perceptions. But what we learn may be helpful to campuses as they evaluate these types of things in their athletics departments as well."

Once a gender-equity plan for the national office is developed, the task force plans to look outside the confines of the national office to issues in the membership.

"Right now the task force has more of a work-environment focus," Sweet said of the task force's internal approach. "Later, we'll be looking at how the national office can best work with the membership to further help campuses achieve gender equity."

Sweet also serves as a member of the internal Diversity Hiring Issues Management Team and also works with the staff liaisons to the CWA. She meets regularly with Dempsey and with the Association's senior vice-presidents, providing feedback and recommendations related to both internal and membership diversity issues.

Sweet also serves as an advisor to the senior management team on internal gender matters, and she works with the Association's

human resources department to assist in creating opportunities for upward mobility within the national office. When appropriate, Sweet also attends meetings of the NCAA Executive Committee, the Executive Committee Subcommittee on Gender and Diversity, the Division I Board of Directors, and the Divisions II and III Presidents Councils.

Sweet's other duties and responsibilities also include oversight of marketing of women's events, television negotiations and attendance at women's events, as appropriate.

"Judy's role as national office SWA is evolving," Bradley-Doppes said. "Her first year at the NCAA really demonstrates that. Her role does create a great blueprint for individual institutions in how to make the best use of the SWA. Judy's role is broad-based and wide-reaching, as it should be."

Designation, not job description

In addition to her SWA designation, Sweet is vice-president of championships, a group that oversees all of the men's championships except baseball, football and Division I basketball, and all of the women's championships except Division I basketball. From cross country and swimming to gymnastics, lacrosse, fencing and ice hockey, the 31 employees in Sweet's group administer much of what makes up the NCAA championships experience.

Balancing her work as a vice-president with that of the SWA role can be a challenge, but the whole point of the SWA is that it's someone who holds a senior administrative position, Sweet said.

"In my mind, the SWA designation is not a position with SWA responsibilities solely, but is rather a role undertaken by somebody who is part of the administrative structure already," Sweet said. "The SWA should be the senior-most female in that structure and she may have additional responsibilities because of that.

"People sometimes get confused and try to create a job description that justifies the existence of the SWA. Instead, there should be a job description based on regular administrative responsibilities. The designation of SWA isn't a job. It indicates the senior-ranking female in the administrative structure, and she has departmental responsibilities similar to others -- for example, associate ADs in the athletics department."

In other words, the SWA doesn't just come to the table for administrative decisions because she's designated as the SWA. Rather, the SWA holds a meaningful administrative position that calls for her seat at the table -- and as such she is the SWA. It's a distinction that some campuses haven't made yet.

"In the early years, there was a tendency to have the SWA focus on women's sports on campus. That's not the way it ought to work, I believe," Sweet said. "Instead, the SWA ought to be fully integrated into the school's athletics programs and contribute as any high-level administrator would. That also lets the SWA serve as a role model to the female student-athletes and younger staff members, who see a woman as a natural part of the administrative structure."

Sweet also points out that, at one time, it was not uncommon for a male to be appointed as senior woman administrator, an appointment that misses the intent of the designation.

"An SWA isn't just somebody who looks out for the women's program," she said. "Hopefully, everyone in the administrative structure is looking out for the women, just as they are looking out for the men. Rather, the hope and the understanding is that being a female gives you a perspective that is unique and a perspective that males may not have."

Sweet also said that the role of campus SWA was not intended to be filled by a coach in most cases.

"It should be someone with administrative responsibilities," she said, "although at the Division II or III level there might be a small number of administrative positions so the person might be a part-time coach who also has administrative responsibilities. The key there is the administrative responsibilities.

"In addition to all of the other things an SWA does and is, the designation is a way of giving administrative experience to a qualified woman," Sweet said. "But, in order for that benefit to be realized, that person has to have meaningful responsibilities in that role. The SWA is not just a title."

When Sweet took the position of NCAA vice-president and senior woman administrator, there was no doubt she would serve more than in name only. Sweet has been in on the ground floor for many of the advances the Association has made over the years in terms of gender and diversity. She was an original member of the CWA, and she also served for many years on the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee.

"I don't think we could have had a better first national office SWA," Bradley-Doppes said. "Judy is a dynamic and energetic visionary, and she conducts herself in the way we believe an SWA should on campus. We believe you hire quality, capable individuals who happen to be women and bring them to the table for all discussion and decisions."

The NCAA's Dempsey is proud of the leadership Sweet brings to the national office.

"She is an integral part of the President's Leadership Team, while having the overall responsibility of the championships group at the national office. We are proud of the gender and ethnic advances we have accomplished in the last eight years and are confident that with Judy's assistance, we will continue to grow our commitment to diversity," Dempsey said.

For her part, Sweet is trying to make the national office SWA a designation that's both meaningful to the national office employees and to the membership. And since she's no newcomer to intercollegiate athletics, she also recognizes that simply the existence of a national SWA is a significant step.

"I'm pleased that the NCAA has designated a woman to serve as SWA," Sweet said. "I think it sends a very positive message both within the national office and throughout the Association. Personally, it's been very rewarding for me to get the support I've received from NCAA senior management and also from the men and women within the national office and in the membership."