Jul 8, 2010 8:49:42 AM

Eleven senior athletics administrators make up the most recent class from the NCAA Fellows Program designed to address the low number of minorities and women in athletics administration.

The program developed in 1997 by the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and the Committee on Women's Athletics seeks to groom individuals to be athletics directors. The 2008-09 NCAA Race and Demographics Report shows that ethnic minorities make up just 7 percent (71 of 1,018) of the athletics directors at non-Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Only about 19 percent of ADs are female.  

The program provides targeted professional experiences, and each NCAA Fellow is assigned an executive mentor who provides regular interaction and career guidance over the 18-month course of the program.  

The 11 graduates and their respective executive mentors are:

• Lisa Campos, senior associate athletics director/senior woman administrator, University of Texas at El Paso. (Executive Mentor: Jim Phillips, director of athletics and recreation, Northwestern University.)
• Victoria Chun, senior associate athletics director/senior woman administrator, Colgate University. (Executive Mentor: Pat Lyons, director of athletics, Iona College.)
• Derek Horne, senior associate athletics director for external operations, University of Mississippi. (Executive Mentor: Bill Bradshaw, director of athletics, Temple University.)
• Kiki Jacobs, associate director of athletics/senior woman administrator, Oberlin College. (Executive Mentor: Bridget Belgiovine, director of athletics, Wellesley College.)
• Jim Sarra, deputy director of athletics, University of Texas at San Antonio. (Executive Mentor: Keith Tribble, director of athletics and executive vice president, University of Central Florida Athletics Association.)
• Tracy Scott, associate athletics director for athletics support services, Eastern Illinois University. (Executive Mentor: Floyd Kerr, director of athletics, Morgan State University.)
• Darryl Sims, assistant director of athletics, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. (Executive Mentor: Robert Vowels, vice president of educational affairs, NCAA national office.)
• Allison Tookes, associate athletics director /senior woman administrator, Wayne State University (Michigan). (Executive Mentor: Jim Naumovich, commissioner, Great Lakes Valley Conference.)
• Linda Van Drie-Andrzjewski, associate athletics director/senior woman administrator, Wilmington University (Delaware). [Executive Mentor: Barb Schroeder, recently retired director of athletics, Regis University (Colorado).]
• Marianne Vydra, associate athletics director/senior woman administrator, Oregon State University. (Executive Mentor: Tom Bowen, director of athletics, San Jose State University.)
• Carla Wilson, senior associate athletics director for business and finance/senior woman administrator, University of Missouri, Kansas City. (Executive Mentor: Bob Bowlsby, director of athletics, Stanford University.)

Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion, praised the Fellows Program for providing aspiring ADs with the overall skill set and preparedness to lead.  

"Some of the best athletics directors in the NCAA interacted with and assessed the Fellows' readiness, and they report that this group has everything needed to be successful," she said. "The next step is the crux of the matter. Key campus decision-makers, including NCAA presidents and chancellors, need to give them serious consideration when they begin the process of hiring an athletics director."

NCAA Fellows graduate from the program with a better understanding of the administrative decision-making process at the senior levels in athletics administration.   Participants attend the NCAA Convention and relevant workshops, seminars and other Association-related meetings. They also participate in training sessions in marketing, public and media relations, budgeting/fiscal management, leadership, human resource management, fundraising, and strategic planning.

A total of 56 athletics administrators have completed the Fellows Program since its inception. Of those who have completed the program, nearly 40 percent are currently in senior management, holding the title of senior associate athletics director or the equivalent at NCAA colleges and universities.  

Alumni include ADs Marcella Zalot (Colby College), Floyd Kerr (Morgan State University), Tracey Ranieri (State University College at Oneonta), Wheeler Brown (North Carolina A&T State University) and Gerald Young (Carleton College). Dell Robinson, commissioner of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, is also a Fellows alumnus.