In a recent interview on the Double-A Zone’s Campus Connection, I spoke with Bernadette McGlade, the new commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference.  McGlade spent the last 11 years working in the Atlantic Coast Conference office, including serving the last nine years as associate commissioner.  In addition to McGlade’s numerous accolades from her days as a student-athlete at the University of North Carolina and throughout her professional career, she currently serves as the president of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA).  McGlade discussed various issues in our conversation, including the transition to her new job, rewarding aspects of working in intercollegiate athletics, Title IX’s impact on her life, and advice for aspiring college athletic administrators.    

This discussion is part of the Double-A-Zone’s series on women in conference leadership, which honors the 36^th anniversary of Title IX.  Look for these Campus Connections in the days ahead:

·         Julie Ruppert, Commissioner of the Northeast-10 Conference (Division II)

·         Donna Ledwin, Commissioner of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (Division III)

Click here to listen to the Bernadette McGlade interview.

An excerpt follows:

Q: How would you describe a typical day in the life of a Division I conference commissioner?

A: …I know the commissioner of any league would have to be certainly just really working day-in and day-out with all of their member institutions.  Everything is cyclical depending on what seasons are just around the corner or what’s in season, what’s not in season.  Keeping a great communication handle on all of the new initiatives and NCAA governance issues, the financial issues, the championship issues that affect student-athlete welfare.  It’s one of those positions where the buck kind of stops at your desk, so you really are the manager of all things as they touch your schools.

Q: As a female administrator, what has Title IX meant to you personally and if it didn’t exist, do you think your career might have been different up to this point?

A: Absolutely.  I am a product of Title IX.  When I graduated from high school, my mother was basically raising seven children.  My father had passed away and there’s no question in my mind if I hadn’t received a scholarship to go to the University of North Carolina to play basketball…and the only reason that I did receive it was because Title IX had recently come into being in 1976 when I was graduating from high school.  Yeah, there’s no question in my mind, had I not attended North Carolina on a basketball scholarship, and had every door in the world open to me, I wouldn’t have the career that I have right now.