ESU to Host “Symposium on Women in Sport: Celebration of Women’s Athletics” on Friday, April 24

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania will host a “Symposium on Women in Sport: Celebration of Women’s Athletics” with presentations and a panel discussion on Friday, April 24.

Three morning presentations (9 a.m. to 12 p.m.), the panel discussion at 12:15 p.m. and a 2:30 p.m. presentation are all free and open to the general public.

Several prominent figures in intercollegiate athletics will share their stories and insights on their careers, including Donna A. Lopiano, Ph.D., former CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation and former director of women’s athletics at the University of Texas; Sharon E. Taylor, former director of athletics at Lock Haven University; and Nancy Jo Greenawalt, D.Ed., academic coordinator for athletics at ESU.

Mary Gardner ’74, former director of athletics at Bloomsburg University and a 1982 inductee to the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame, will be the keynote speaker at a luncheon (by invitation only).

Gardner and Jan Hutchinson ’71, former championship field hockey and softball coach at Bloomsburg and a 2008 ESU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, will be honored at the luncheon with an ESU “Athletics Award of Merit” in recognition of their distinguished achievement and excellence in athletics.

The symposium is being held in conjunction with ESU’s celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which marked its 29th year in 2015.

“This symposium offers a unique opportunity for ESU students, student-athletes and those with an interest in athletics to learn from several of the leaders in intercollegiate athletics,” said Carey J. Snyder, Ph.D., ESU’s associate director of athletics, senior women’s administrator and event organizer.

The first three presentations and the panel discussion will be held in the Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall of the university’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. 9 a.m. – Sharon E. Taylor: “Title IX…37 Words That Changed the World (of Sport)” 10 a.m. – Donna A. Lopiano, Ph.D.: “The Courage of Leadership…and Making a Difference” 11 a.m. – Donna A. Lopiano, Ph.D.: “Debunking the Myths of Women in Sport”

At 12:15 p.m., there will be a panel discussion titled “Questions and Answers with Legends Who Paved the Way,” also in the Cohen Recital Hall.

The afternoon presentation by Dr. Greenawalt will be held in Stroud Hall room 113. 2:30 p.m. – Nancy Jo Greenawalt, D.Ed.: “Modern Sexism and Its Implications for Women Leaders”

More information on the participants is below:

Donna A. Lopiano, Ph.D.
Donna Lopiano, former Director of Women’s Athletics at the University of Texas for 18 years, is recognized as one of the foremost national experts on gender equity in sport. She is currently the president and founder of Sports Management Resources, a consulting firm that assists scholastic and intercollegiate athletic departments. She is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Sports Foundation (1992-2007) and has been nationally and internationally recognized for her leadership as an athletics administrator and work advocating for gender equity in sport – including by the International Olympic Committee, the NCAA, the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports, NACWAA and NACDA. She has been listed among “The Top 10 Most Powerful Women in Sports” by Fox Sports, “The 100 Most Influential People in Sports” by The Sporting News, and “The 100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America” by The Institute for International Sport. During her tenure at Texas, Dr. Lopiano constructed one of the premier women’s athletics programs in the country, twice earning the top program in the nation award. Her teams won 18 national championships in six different sports, produced 51 national champion athletes, won 57 Southwest Conference championships, 395 All-America citations, and turned out dozens of Olympians and world champions. Dr. Lopiano testified about Title IX and gender equity before three Congressional committees, served as a consultant to the U.S. Office for Civil Rights Department of Health, Education and Welfare Title IX Task Force, and has been an expert witness in over 30 court cases. She was a collegiate coach in men’s and women’s volleyball, women’s basketball and softball, and coached the Italian national softball team.

Sharon E. Taylor
Sharon Taylor is a former Director of Athletics and championship field hockey and lacrosse coach at Lock Haven University. She was Director of Athletics at LHU for 24 years, from 1988 through 2012. She coordinated and directed LHU’s 18 intercollegiate sports, including Division I programs in field hockey and wrestling. As head field hockey coach, Taylor earned an impressive 333-96-27 record from 1973-95, making her the winningest coach in LHU history. She guided The Haven to six national championships, seven Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) titles and seven additional national championship or semifinal appearances. Her 1979 lacrosse team won the first Division II national championship sponsored by the United States Women’s Lacrosse Association (USWLA). Among Taylor’s many contributions to the field of athletics, she is responsible for having conceived and initiated the idea for a collegiate championship in field hockey. Taylor has led several national organizations, including the USFHA (sitting on the Board of Directors of the United States Olympic Committee), the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA), the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the Eastern Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women and the AIAW. She has also has served on numerous NCAA committees and worked with the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations and the Federation Internationale de Hockey. She served as a consultant to the President’s Commission on Olympic Sport. Taylor is recognized nationally as one of the pioneers for athletics equality and a continuing source of commitment to the promise of Title IX. Taylor has been honored by numerous organizations for contributions to sport, to equity, and to her profession of intercollegiate athletics. Most recently, she was named to the inaugural class of the ECAC Hall of Fame in 2015, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from NACWAA.

Nancy Jo Greenawalt, D.Ed.
Nancy Jo Greenawalt serves as the Academic Coordinator for Athletics at East Stroudsburg University and is in her 17th year as a member of the university’s staff during the 2014-15 academic year.Dr. Greenawalt, an associate professor at ESU, is responsible for organizing the academic support structure for nearly 500 Warriors student-athletes and assists them in meeting their academic and performance goals. In addition, she is an adjunct faculty member in the Sport Management department where she teaches courses in athletic administration and personnel management. Dr. Greenawalt has more than 30 years of experience in higher education as a professor, coach and athletic administrator, including 14 years at Albright College and 17 years at ESU. During her time at Albright, she worked as the Associate Athletic Director of Women and was the Physical Education Department Chairperson. She has also served on numerous NCAA, national and regional committees. She was a five-sport student-athlete at Albright, a head coach for volleyball, badminton and tennis, and was inducted to the Albright Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. Dr. Greenawalt completed her D.Ed. in Administration and Leadership Studies from IUP in 2012. Her dissertation extended the research on a female athlete’s preference for a coach and the association of one’s preference with the degree to which one holds modern sexist beliefs. She plans to continue research on this topic to bring awareness to the issues and prejudicial evaluation women often face as leaders in male domains such as intercollegiate athletics.

Mary Gardner
Mary Gardner, a 1974 graduate of East Stroudsburg University and a 1982 inductee to the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame, was Director of Athletics at Bloomsburg University for 23 years and also coached swimming and field hockey during her 37-year career with the Huskies. Gardner was one of the first female athletic directors in the country responsible for both the men’s and women’s athletics programs when she was appointed in July 1988, following six months on an interim basis. She retired from Bloomsburg in June 2011. She oversaw daily operations for Bloomsburg’s 20 varsity teams and was named NACDA’s athletic director of the year for the northeast region in 2001. She was honored as the DII athletic director of the year by NACWAA in 2003. She recently directed more than $18 million in facilities renovations on Bloomsburg’s campus. As a coach, she initiated and led the women’s swimming and diving program for 14 seasons, posting an 88-28 dual record, and led the men’s program for one season. She was also BU’s first field hockey coach, serving four years. She coached 44 All-Americans, several of whom won individual national championships.Bloomsburg won the PSAC’s Dixon Trophy in 1996 and 1997, four NCAA championships in field hockey, and had strong national finishes in football and softball under Gardner’s leadership. BU was cited by Sports Illustrated for Women as one of the best DII programs for women in 1999 and 2000. Gardner has served on numerous NCAA committees, including the DII Management Council and the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics, along with significant work at the conference level in the PSAC. As a student-athlete for the Warriors, Gardner was the AIAW national champion in the 50-yard breaststroke in 1971 and 1972 and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1971. She was a four-time Eastern champion and also lettered in field hockey. She was named the school’s Senior Female Athlete of the Year in 1974.

Jan Hutchinson
Jan Hutchinson, a 1971 East Stroudsburg University graduate and 2008 inductee to the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame, retired as field hockey and softball coach at Bloomsburg University in 2010 as the winningest collegiate coach in any division with 1,806 combined victories. Hutchinson led Bloomsburg to 16 national championships and 17 PSAC championships in field hockey, and is the NCAA DII softball all-time leader in career wins and made an NCAA-record 27 consecutive trips to the DII Tournament. As field hockey coach at Bloomsburg, Hutchinson compiled an overall record of 591-75-20 for a .827 winning percentage. She is the winningest coach in NCAA field hockey history and is the only coach with more than 500 victories. Her teams won national championships in: 1981, 1983-84, 1987, 1993, 1996-99, 2002-04 and 2006-09. They also registered nine national runner-up finishes. She was selected as the DII national coach of the year seven times, coached 105 All-America selections and 12 national players of the year. In softball, Hutchinson coached 33 seasons, posting a record of 1,165-280-2 for a .805 winning percentage. Her teams made 27 straight DII Tournament appearances and 30 national trips overall, including AIAW and DIII. She was ranked second in DII history and sixth in NCAA all-division history in career victories when she retired in 2010. Bloomsburg reached the NCAA championship round 10 times, twice finishing as national runner-up. Her 1982 team won the AIAW national championship. Her softball athletes earned 53 All-America awards. In 1982, Hutchinson won the national championship “double” in her fourth year at Bloomsburg, winning the field hockey title in the fall and softball championship in the spring. Hutchinson has been inducted to Hall of Fames by both the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. She was named the winner of the C. Vivian Stringer Award by the United States Sports Academy in 2006.

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