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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Competitive diversity
Researchers’ findings put new perspective on need for inclusion in athletics
Researchers’ findings put new perspective on need for inclusion in athletics
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By Leilana McKindra
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
Diversity proponents throughout the NCAA membership often rely on the following argument to advocate for a more inclusive athletics environment: “Doing the right thing in terms of diversity is simply the right thing to do.”
Now, however, thanks in part to researchers at Texas A&M University, College Station, diversity advocates have a new angle to support their belief that committing to diversity and inclusion goes beyond making appropriate social or moral choices — it also translates into better performance on the fields, courts and mats.
Texas A&M researchers George B. Cunningham and Mike Sagas say there is a clear relationship between overall excellence in diversity and departmental performance. The duo from Texas A&M’s Laboratory for Diversity in Sport have found that athletics departments that excel in diversity strategy tend to register higher point totals in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
“We have been able to show that a diversity strategy is substantially related to NACDA points,” said Cunningham.
Cunningham gathered data from surveys used in determining the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport’s annual Diversity in Athletics Awards, which honor athletics departments in a variety of diversity-based categories. Schools in the survey that scored low in overall diversity registered an average of 413 points in the 2005-06 Directors’ Cup, but teams that did better in the overall diversity category averaged 677 points.
Cunningham said that even when other factors — such as the number of sports sponsored or budgets that could influence how well a program fared in the NACDA standings — are taken into account, the difference in competitive performance by diverse programs was more than coincidental. He said he and his research team were able to demonstrate statistically what people have been proclaiming anecdotally for a long time.
“We were able to see that diversity strategy and the racial composition of your work force contributes to athletics success,” he said.
Since 2000, Cunningham and Sagas have studied diversity in sports from a broad perspective — how differences affect team and organizational performance, and identifying strategies for change and improvement. Such a global perspective — along with the pressure from athletics stakeholders for institutions to increase their commitment to diversity — has helped improve the situation. But the new finding may be especially significant for athletics administrators.
“Some people say you ought to have good diversity strategies because it’s the right thing to do,” said Cunningham. “We certainly agree with that, but sometimes athletics directors and the folks they answer to need more than that to support those endeavors.”
The latest findings correlate behavior with performance.
Stanford University might be the best example of matching commitment to diversity with excellence in athletics competition. The school earned Diversity in Athletics Awards last year in the categories of overall excellence in diversity, diversity strategy, and sex and race of employees — and the Cardinal have won 12 straight Directors’ Cups.
While Stanford Director of Athletics Bob Bowlsby has been in charge of the athletics department for just 10 months after having served for many years as the AD at the University of Iowa, he cited Stanford’s longstanding commitment to gender equity and diversity as integral to the overall success of the athletics department.
“We hope that innovation as it pertains to diversity and equity issues also plays itself out in innovation in other parts of the program. Those two are altogether compatible,” said Bowlsby.
The University of Kansas also earned Diversity in Athletics Awards last year in the categories of overall excellence in diversity, diversity strategy and Title IX compliance. Senior Associate Director of Athletics Kelly Mehrtens said that under Director of Athletics Lew Perkins, the athletics department has made diversity a key part of its strategic plan.
Mehrtens is not surprised at the link between highly diverse athletics departments and performance in the Directors’ Cup, given that one of an athletics administrator’s jobs in higher education is to develop “a complete package” for student-athletes.
“The more people talk about diversity and the more that people who are living it talk about what it has meant to their program and their student-athletes, it sets the stage for other institutions to consider modeling themselves after those schools that are attempting to do the right thing in the right way.”
Calling Cunningham’s latest research “a breakthrough,” NCAA Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Charlotte Westerhaus said one of the key takeaways is that effective diversity strategies and programs are contextual. What breeds success in one Division I institution may be different than what works at another, she said.
Westerhaus noted that the Diversity in Athletics Awards are important because they use objective standards to measure diversity success. “It is a clear and concise demonstration that diversity enhances an athletics department’s performance in a way departments can understand and in a way ADs measure success,” she said.
As for whether the new findings inspire an even more diverse and inclusive culture throughout the membership, Cunningham said the data may have the most influence on those administrators simply looking for ways to enhance their departments’ performance.
“A lot of folks may just be looking for things that improve their department. They don’t care what sort of thing it is,” he said.
Following are the 2006-07 winners:
Overall excellence in diversity
University of Akron
Ball State University
University at Buffalo
University of Kansas
University of Louisiana, Monroe
University of Louisville
Northwestern University
Purdue University
Stanford University
Washington State University
Diversity strategy
University of Akron
University of Kansas
Kansas State University
Kent State University
University of Louisiana, Monroe
University of Nevada
University of Pittsburgh
Stanford University
Title IX compliance
University of Kansas
Kansas State University
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
Ohio State University
Oregon State University
Purdue University
University of Southern California
Washington State University
Graduation of African-American male student-athletes
Ball State University
California State University, Fresno
University of Cincinnati
Kent State University
University of Louisiana, Lafayette
University of Louisiana, Monroe
Marshall University
Northwestern University
San Diego State University
University of Southern Mississippi
Graduation of African-American female student-athletes
University of Akron
Arkansas State University
University of Louisiana, Monroe
University of Louisville
Marshall University
University of Nebraska
Northwestern University
University of South Florida
University of Toledo
Gender diversity of employees
Arizona State University
University at Buffalo
University of Louisiana, Monroe
Michigan State University
University of Nevada
University of Pittsburgh
Purdue University
Stanford University
West Virginia University
Racial diversity of employees
University of California, Berkeley
California State University, Fresno
Florida International University
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Mississippi State University
New Mexico State University
San Jose State University
Stanford University
University of Texas at El Paso
University of Tulsa
Employee values and attitudes
Ball State University
University at Buffalo
Florida Atlantic University
Florida International University
Middle Tennessee State University
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of North Texas
Northwestern University
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
San Jose State University
Troy University
Now, however, thanks in part to researchers at Texas A&M University, College Station, diversity advocates have a new angle to support their belief that committing to diversity and inclusion goes beyond making appropriate social or moral choices — it also translates into better performance on the fields, courts and mats.
Texas A&M researchers George B. Cunningham and Mike Sagas say there is a clear relationship between overall excellence in diversity and departmental performance. The duo from Texas A&M’s Laboratory for Diversity in Sport have found that athletics departments that excel in diversity strategy tend to register higher point totals in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.“We have been able to show that a diversity strategy is substantially related to NACDA points,” said Cunningham.
Cunningham gathered data from surveys used in determining the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport’s annual Diversity in Athletics Awards, which honor athletics departments in a variety of diversity-based categories. Schools in the survey that scored low in overall diversity registered an average of 413 points in the 2005-06 Directors’ Cup, but teams that did better in the overall diversity category averaged 677 points.
Cunningham said that even when other factors — such as the number of sports sponsored or budgets that could influence how well a program fared in the NACDA standings — are taken into account, the difference in competitive performance by diverse programs was more than coincidental. He said he and his research team were able to demonstrate statistically what people have been proclaiming anecdotally for a long time.
“We were able to see that diversity strategy and the racial composition of your work force contributes to athletics success,” he said.
Since 2000, Cunningham and Sagas have studied diversity in sports from a broad perspective — how differences affect team and organizational performance, and identifying strategies for change and improvement. Such a global perspective — along with the pressure from athletics stakeholders for institutions to increase their commitment to diversity — has helped improve the situation. But the new finding may be especially significant for athletics administrators.
“Some people say you ought to have good diversity strategies because it’s the right thing to do,” said Cunningham. “We certainly agree with that, but sometimes athletics directors and the folks they answer to need more than that to support those endeavors.”
The latest findings correlate behavior with performance.
Stanford University might be the best example of matching commitment to diversity with excellence in athletics competition. The school earned Diversity in Athletics Awards last year in the categories of overall excellence in diversity, diversity strategy, and sex and race of employees — and the Cardinal have won 12 straight Directors’ Cups.
While Stanford Director of Athletics Bob Bowlsby has been in charge of the athletics department for just 10 months after having served for many years as the AD at the University of Iowa, he cited Stanford’s longstanding commitment to gender equity and diversity as integral to the overall success of the athletics department.
“We hope that innovation as it pertains to diversity and equity issues also plays itself out in innovation in other parts of the program. Those two are altogether compatible,” said Bowlsby.
The University of Kansas also earned Diversity in Athletics Awards last year in the categories of overall excellence in diversity, diversity strategy and Title IX compliance. Senior Associate Director of Athletics Kelly Mehrtens said that under Director of Athletics Lew Perkins, the athletics department has made diversity a key part of its strategic plan.
Mehrtens is not surprised at the link between highly diverse athletics departments and performance in the Directors’ Cup, given that one of an athletics administrator’s jobs in higher education is to develop “a complete package” for student-athletes.
“The more people talk about diversity and the more that people who are living it talk about what it has meant to their program and their student-athletes, it sets the stage for other institutions to consider modeling themselves after those schools that are attempting to do the right thing in the right way.”
Calling Cunningham’s latest research “a breakthrough,” NCAA Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Charlotte Westerhaus said one of the key takeaways is that effective diversity strategies and programs are contextual. What breeds success in one Division I institution may be different than what works at another, she said.
Westerhaus noted that the Diversity in Athletics Awards are important because they use objective standards to measure diversity success. “It is a clear and concise demonstration that diversity enhances an athletics department’s performance in a way departments can understand and in a way ADs measure success,” she said.
As for whether the new findings inspire an even more diverse and inclusive culture throughout the membership, Cunningham said the data may have the most influence on those administrators simply looking for ways to enhance their departments’ performance.
“A lot of folks may just be looking for things that improve their department. They don’t care what sort of thing it is,” he said.
Diversity in Athletics Award
The annual Diversity in Athletics Award presented by the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport at Texas A&M University, College Station, honors institutions that excel in diversity and inclusion. Athletics departments are recognized in eight categories. For more information about the Diversity in Athletics Award, visit http://lds.tamu.edu.Following are the 2006-07 winners:
Overall excellence in diversity
University of Akron
Ball State University
University at Buffalo
University of Kansas
University of Louisiana, Monroe
University of Louisville
Northwestern University
Purdue University
Stanford University
Washington State University
Diversity strategy
University of Akron
University of Kansas
Kansas State University
Kent State University
University of Louisiana, Monroe
University of Nevada
University of Pittsburgh
Stanford University
Title IX compliance
University of Kansas
Kansas State University
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
Ohio State University
Oregon State University
Purdue University
University of Southern California
Washington State University
Graduation of African-American male student-athletes
Ball State University
California State University, Fresno
University of Cincinnati
Kent State University
University of Louisiana, Lafayette
University of Louisiana, Monroe
Marshall University
Northwestern University
San Diego State University
University of Southern Mississippi
Graduation of African-American female student-athletes
University of Akron
Arkansas State University
University of Louisiana, Monroe
University of Louisville
Marshall University
University of Nebraska
Northwestern University
University of South Florida
University of Toledo
Gender diversity of employees
Arizona State University
University at Buffalo
University of Louisiana, Monroe
Michigan State University
University of Nevada
University of Pittsburgh
Purdue University
Stanford University
West Virginia University
Racial diversity of employees
University of California, Berkeley
California State University, Fresno
Florida International University
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Mississippi State University
New Mexico State University
San Jose State University
Stanford University
University of Texas at El Paso
University of Tulsa
Employee values and attitudes
Ball State University
University at Buffalo
Florida Atlantic University
Florida International University
Middle Tennessee State University
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of North Texas
Northwestern University
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
San Jose State University
Troy University
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