Latest News

« back to 2010 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index

Charlotte Westerhaus reflects on her time at the NCAA

By Kristen Leigh Porter
NCAA.org

NCAA Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Charlotte Westerhaus doesn’t hesitate when asked to describe the proudest moment of her career.

In the fall of 2007, she was charged with leading a meeting among Division I athletic directors, the NFL and NCAA at the behest of the late NCAA President Myles Brand. What followed was the first real discourse within the NCAA on campus hiring practices and lack of diversity in the football coaching ranks.

As she prepares to leave the Association after more than five years of service, Westerhaus beams when reflecting on that watershed event. By early 2008, the Division 1A Athletic Directors’ Association agreed to interview a minority candidate for each open position not by mandate, but by choice.

“We all sat down around the table and instead of pointing fingers at each other, we pointed our collective efforts to come up with a solution,” Westerhaus said. “That’s what I’m proudest of.”

The number of minority head football coaches has increased, not that Westerhaus is surprised.

The NCAA has helped grow the pool of candidates through its Coaches Academy programming for career advancement and professional development. 

During her tenure at the NCAA, Westerhaus helped develop and implement strategies, programming and policies to promote diversity and inclusion within the national office and member institutions. She staffed the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and Committee on Women’s Athletics.

“We want to commend Charlotte for her many contributions to the national office and for shedding light on diversity and inclusion issues throughout the membership,” said NCAA Interim President Jim Isch.

Said Westerhaus: “No matter who is in my role in the future, the success of everything we do has to come from our membership. And what the membership showed the public is they not only had the will, but they had the way. That’s what I think my role was, to help them on that way to enhancing diversity and inclusion.”

From serving on the board of directors for the Black Coaches and Administrators and as a member-at-large on the board of advisors at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Westerhaus has been a prominent figure within the college community.

“Charlotte understood the unique requirement of leadership necessary to advocate for diversity and inclusion and fully understood the complexity of the dynamics required to navigate the troubling waters of change associated with such matters dealing with the sensitive subjects of race and gender,” said Floyd A. Keith, BCA executive director. “It can always be said, under Charlotte’s tenure as NCAA vice president of diversity and inclusion, the landscape of opportunities improved in the NCAA for people of color and gender. “

During her career in higher education, Westerhaus has been a catalyst of change.

Westerhaus and current Illinois President Michael J. Hogan worked together closely at Iowa, where she was assistant to the president and director of equal opportunity while he was provost.

“Charlotte is a champion of diversity who has taken on every new leadership challenge throughout her career with an exceptional degree of intensity and commitment,” Hogan said. “The NCAA is truly fortunate to have had her expert guidance on its efforts to improve diversity and enhance culture, issues of critical importance to member universities across the nation.”

Westerhaus’ career path in diversity and inclusion started when she worked in student affairs at University of California, Davis, administering diversity programming. After attending law school at Indiana and working as an attorney in the private sector, Westerhaus worked in equity and inclusion at University of Wisconsin, Parkside, and then as affirmative action director at Purdue.

While at Purdue, women’s basketball coach Kristy Curry asked Westerhaus to mentor minority student-athletes to enhance academic performance and encourage community involvement.

 “She is an amazing inspiration and role model for so many young women,” said Curry, now the head coach at Texas Tech.

Westerhaus developed a special bond with Camille Cooper Ozumba, a member of the Purdue 1999 national championship team and Phi Beta Kappa student. Westerhaus served as a reference when Cooper applied for law school and attended her subsequent graduation at Duke.

Westerhaus left Purdue to work in diversity and inclusion for a global aviation and aerospace company.

One of the last decisions current Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman made before she left Iowa was to recruit Westerhaus from the corporate sector to join the school’s diversity and affirmative action program in 2002. 

“She came with a stellar reputation, and I regret that we did not have time to work closely together,” Coleman said. “However, I have admired her from afar because of her energy and her commitment to creating opportunities for all."

Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder said she enjoyed getting to know Westerhaus, and admired her work both in an academic setting and at the NCAA. Westerhaus worked closely with minority and international student-athletes and coaches.

“I look to connect with strong female leaders and she became a trusted mentor and colleague who I respect tremendously,” Bluder said. “We shared the philosophies of the importance of mentoring to young women and how women need to learn the valuable lesson of supporting each other. Charlotte has positively impacted the lives of so many women, regardless of race.”

As Title IX coordinator at Iowa, Westerhaus worked closely with Christine Grant, who is recognized as one of the foremost experts on gender equity in intercollegiate athletics.

It was Grant who brought the NCAA opportunity to her attention when Brand established the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion department in 2005. With the added support of Coleman and Hogan, among others, Westerhaus applied for the position because she wanted to see what could be accomplished on a national scale.

Westerhaus estimated that 75 to 80 percent of her time, especially the first three years, was spent meeting with athletic directors, coaches, conference commissioners and student-athletes.

Said Westerhaus: “All of them said ‘Charlotte, we want this diversity and inclusion effort at the NCAA to work. Help us.’”

In fact, it was a suggestion from student-athletes to give recognition to athletic departments doing “the right thing” that spawned the Diversity in Athletics Award for NCAA Division I, II and III institutions.

Westerhaus said she is excited about President-Elect Mark Emmert’s record on diversity and believes he will be able to direct the Association to greater heights. In June, Emmert spoke at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention and met with minority coaches attending the NCAA Champions and Expert Coaches Forum.

“I don’t know if this is a bad analogy, but if you get water to a boiling point, the only way it can cool is if the heat goes down,” Westerhaus said. “It’s not going to go down because I think the NCAA is very proud of its accomplishments. They’re very competitive and always want to do better.”