NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland – The difficulty of achieving diversity not only in the coaching ranks but also at the senior levels of intercollegiate athletics administration served as a launching pad for a healthy discussion during a Wednesday Association-wide session titled “Bridging the Gap: Impacting the Ranks of Senior Athletics Administration Positions.”

Part of the Convention session centered on best practices institutions may use to attract a diverse workforce. The strategies were based on research by panelist George Cunningham, associate professor and director of the Laboratory for Diversity in Sports at Texas A&M, who interviewed 70 people, including presidents, athletics directors, student-athletes, coaches and administrators.

While all the strategies are related, Cunningham said the notions that workers must value diversity and must understand the impact that diversity has on the work unit are particularly important.

Cunningham said institutions often focus on race and gender and don’t realize that the primary diversity concern in the department may be LGBT, religious or something else. The goal then, he said, is to determine how differences are affecting the workplace, positively or negatively, and capitalize on the positives.

Also as part of the session, panelists fielding a variety of questions from moderator Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion, agreed on the need for leaders to be willing to do the right thing. They emphasized the importance of sweeping aside color and gender and taking a close look at individuals’ experiences and capabilities.

“You have to look at people’s experience, what individuals bring to a particular position; their backgrounds; their references; and, most importantly, the experiences, successes and failures they’ve had and what kind of fit they’ll be,” said Columbia Athletics Director M. Dianne Murphy. “When you talk about being bold and courageous, you have to have confidence in yourself that you’re making the right decision and you’re going to support that person.”

In addition to Cunningham and Murphy, other panelists included Bill Bradshaw, athletics director at Temple; Derrick Gragg, athletics director at Eastern Michigan; Zak Ivkovic, executive director at CUNYAC; Jeffrey McLeod, associate commissioner and director of athletics at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association; Kelly Mehrtens, athletics director at North Carolina-Wilmington; and Sharon Yee, project manager for the Paul Robeson Research Center and graduate coordinator for the College of Design at Arizona State.