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NCAA News Archive - 2006
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Athletics supports role in community
As a young girl growing up in Chicago in the pre-Title IX era, I knew very little about athletics, and certainly there were no opportunities for me to participate in sports programs.
In high school, I played girls’ basketball in gym class (those were the days when certain girl players could not cross the center line — I think I was one of them). I also learned fencing in high school gym class, and later pin setting in college. In my world, there were no girls’ competitive programs, but I certainly attended the games (and related social events) and was an engaged participant of the sports-enjoying community. I was a member of the pep club; I never made the cheerleader squad, though I tried. To this day, I have very fond memories about how interscholastic and intercollegiate athletics shaped my educational experiences.
During my years as a college/university faculty member and administrator, I have had the good fortune to serve at a Division I university (vice president for academic affairs), Division II university (dean of arts and sciences) and Division III college (president). After 13 years in Division II and 10 years in Division III (six trips to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament), and now five years in Division III, I have a well-grounded sense of how athletics programs help shape “community.” Of course, I also have blurred memories of time spent in gyms, fields, tracks, courses, pools, courts and even some locker rooms — having raised two sons who were student-athletes.
In the greater Philadelphia area, Gwynedd-Mercy College is one among many higher-education institutions that serves as an economic asset and anchor for local and regional job growth and much more. Businesses of all sizes are affected by the region’s higher-education institutions, as are the communities where our institutions are located. As a relatively small college (2,031 full-time equivalency) in suburban Philadelphia, Gwynedd-Mercy has a long, valued and well-established relationship with the citizens of Montgomery County. While there are many well-known and highly regarded Fortune 500 companies in our local area, few have been around as long as our almost 150-year Mercy presence in Philadelphia and our approximately 60-year presence in Gwynedd Valley.
As the college has grown in enrollment in recent years, so have its athletics programs (or perhaps vice versa). We now sponsor 18 sports for women and men and compete successfully in the Pennsylvania Athletics Conference (winning the president’s cup last year). Moreover, as the college continues to build and shape its teaching/learning community, Division III athletics plays an important and intentional role in enrollment growth, gender diversity, residential growth, town/gown relationships and more.
Our just-announced plan to build a $5 million turf field-track complex has garnered much interest from contractors and others in the local community, as well as from neighbors concerned about nighttime lights and potential traffic congestion. Talk about a great opportunity to engage with neighbors!
As a Mercy-sponsored institution, our mission-centered core values include a commitment to the advancement of “community.” While our Division III programs do not garner the notoriety of Division I programs, they do provide a strong and valued structure for the advancement of community — both internal to GMC and connected to the larger world. As examples, our baseball team’s leadership role in programming for tsunami relief; our women’s basketball fund-raising for neonatal research; our men’s basketball mentoring for youth at a local home for court-adjudicated youth — those are just a few ways in which GMC students create and sustain community on campus, while also extending Mercy beyond our borders.
Research connected to The National Survey of Student Engagement tells us that “what students do in college counts more in terms of desired outcomes than who they are or even where they go to college.” As a Division III institution, we strongly support the “student” role embraced by student-athletes and value the complementary learning opportunities that exist outside the classroom. With the learned oversight of good coaches and staff and involved faculty, athletics participation can provide a grand opportunity for close engagement among students of different religious beliefs and political opinions, and create a context for contact among students from different economic, social, racial or ethnic backgrounds.
While our neighbors in the local and larger geographic community may recognize the college for its quality academic programs and acclaimed graduation rates, they probably don’t recognize the vital role that Division III athletics play in shaping, supporting and sustaining our engaged learning community — a community that contributes significantly to the preparation of citizens who ultimately live, learn, earn and give back in the local region.
Kathleen Owens is president of Gwynedd-Mercy College and a member of the Division III Presidents Council.
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By Kathleen Owens
Gwynedd-Mercy College
Gwynedd-Mercy College
As a young girl growing up in Chicago in the pre-Title IX era, I knew very little about athletics, and certainly there were no opportunities for me to participate in sports programs.In high school, I played girls’ basketball in gym class (those were the days when certain girl players could not cross the center line — I think I was one of them). I also learned fencing in high school gym class, and later pin setting in college. In my world, there were no girls’ competitive programs, but I certainly attended the games (and related social events) and was an engaged participant of the sports-enjoying community. I was a member of the pep club; I never made the cheerleader squad, though I tried. To this day, I have very fond memories about how interscholastic and intercollegiate athletics shaped my educational experiences.
During my years as a college/university faculty member and administrator, I have had the good fortune to serve at a Division I university (vice president for academic affairs), Division II university (dean of arts and sciences) and Division III college (president). After 13 years in Division II and 10 years in Division III (six trips to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament), and now five years in Division III, I have a well-grounded sense of how athletics programs help shape “community.” Of course, I also have blurred memories of time spent in gyms, fields, tracks, courses, pools, courts and even some locker rooms — having raised two sons who were student-athletes.
In the greater Philadelphia area, Gwynedd-Mercy College is one among many higher-education institutions that serves as an economic asset and anchor for local and regional job growth and much more. Businesses of all sizes are affected by the region’s higher-education institutions, as are the communities where our institutions are located. As a relatively small college (2,031 full-time equivalency) in suburban Philadelphia, Gwynedd-Mercy has a long, valued and well-established relationship with the citizens of Montgomery County. While there are many well-known and highly regarded Fortune 500 companies in our local area, few have been around as long as our almost 150-year Mercy presence in Philadelphia and our approximately 60-year presence in Gwynedd Valley.
As the college has grown in enrollment in recent years, so have its athletics programs (or perhaps vice versa). We now sponsor 18 sports for women and men and compete successfully in the Pennsylvania Athletics Conference (winning the president’s cup last year). Moreover, as the college continues to build and shape its teaching/learning community, Division III athletics plays an important and intentional role in enrollment growth, gender diversity, residential growth, town/gown relationships and more.
Our just-announced plan to build a $5 million turf field-track complex has garnered much interest from contractors and others in the local community, as well as from neighbors concerned about nighttime lights and potential traffic congestion. Talk about a great opportunity to engage with neighbors!
As a Mercy-sponsored institution, our mission-centered core values include a commitment to the advancement of “community.” While our Division III programs do not garner the notoriety of Division I programs, they do provide a strong and valued structure for the advancement of community — both internal to GMC and connected to the larger world. As examples, our baseball team’s leadership role in programming for tsunami relief; our women’s basketball fund-raising for neonatal research; our men’s basketball mentoring for youth at a local home for court-adjudicated youth — those are just a few ways in which GMC students create and sustain community on campus, while also extending Mercy beyond our borders.
Research connected to The National Survey of Student Engagement tells us that “what students do in college counts more in terms of desired outcomes than who they are or even where they go to college.” As a Division III institution, we strongly support the “student” role embraced by student-athletes and value the complementary learning opportunities that exist outside the classroom. With the learned oversight of good coaches and staff and involved faculty, athletics participation can provide a grand opportunity for close engagement among students of different religious beliefs and political opinions, and create a context for contact among students from different economic, social, racial or ethnic backgrounds.
While our neighbors in the local and larger geographic community may recognize the college for its quality academic programs and acclaimed graduation rates, they probably don’t recognize the vital role that Division III athletics play in shaping, supporting and sustaining our engaged learning community — a community that contributes significantly to the preparation of citizens who ultimately live, learn, earn and give back in the local region.
Kathleen Owens is president of Gwynedd-Mercy College and a member of the Division III Presidents Council.
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