Women’s History Month: CoSIDA’s Female Leadership Throughout The Years

Women’s History Month: CoSIDA’s Female Leadership Throughout The Years

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• All-time CoSIDA Presidents, Officers and Board Members
 
The celebration of Women's History Month annually takes place each March. This March, due to the global COVID-19 crisis, the full scope of celebration has been diminished as a newsworthy topic, rightly so.

This dedicated month-long salute is to highlight the contributions and achievements of women to events in history and contemporary society. 

And, contributions of female athletic communications and sports information directors have played a major role in shaping our CoSIDA organization as we know it today. Here's a salute to all the female leaders who have participated as CoSIDA presidents, served on the Board of Directors, led a vast number of our committees, and earned recognition in our annual Special Awards program throughout the years – particularly those inducted into our CoSIDA Hall of Fame.

First, let's salute those females who will serve, or have served, as President of our CoSIDA organization. Take a look at the photo in the graphic leading this story where five of the six are pictured.

(CoSIDA's first female president was June Stewart, formerly of Vanderbilt, in 1990-91. Stewart, a pioneer for women in athletic administration, passed away on February 19, 2019 at the age of 78. In honor of Stewart's leadership and legacy, the CoSIDA Board established the June Stewart Leadership Series of webinars and podcasts for professional development with a focus on leadership strategies. That Series began with the 2019-20 academic year.)

In this photo of the five female leaders, seated, left to right:
  • Tammy Boclair, also formerly of Vanderbilt, who served as the second female president in CoSIDA history  during the 2003-04 academic year; 
  • Shelly Poe, Auburn University Assistant AD/Communications, was CoSIDA's third president. Shelly was in that role during the 2013-14 academic year;
  • Current CoSIDA Third Vice-President Jessica Poole, the first African-American female in the officer rotation in CoSIDA history. Poole is Chicago State's Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations and Revenue Generation.
Standing, left to right:
  • Judy Willson, LSU Associate Communications Director. She served as president of CoSIDA in 2015-16 as the fourth female CoSIDA leader in history while at the Mountain West Conference.
  • Current CoSIDA Second Vice-President Cindy Potter, who will be the first person from the NAIA, male or female, to serve in the CoSIDA presidential role. Cindy is Columbia (Mo.) College's Associate Director of Athletics - Director of Media Relations and Compliance. With current CoSIDA First VP Sam Atkinson (Gallaudet University), they will be the first back-to-back CoSIDA presidents from the college division.

The CoSIDA Hall of Fame was initiated in 1969. The first female (of 18 to date) to be inducted into this illustrious Hall of Fame was former Penn State assistant SID Mary Jo Haverbeck, inducted in 1995. Haverbeck is one of the most decorated sports communications professionals in CoSIDA history, and has one annual award named after her: The Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award. She was the first recipient of CoSIDA's Trailblazer Award.

Since then, 17 other females have joined Haverbeck in CoSIDA's Hall of Fame. They are:  
Here are more facts and factoid DYK's about women in CoSIDA:
  • The first female CoSIDA officer: was Rosa Gatti, elected CoSIDA Third VP in 1979-80 while serving at Brown University. Gatti then went to ESPN for a long and illustrious career as ESPN's leader in communications. Stewart was the second female in the CoSIDA officer rotation when she served as Third VP in 1987-88.
  • All-time CoSIDA Board of Directors Female College Division Representatives: 9
    • The first was Donna Murphy of Chicago State (then a college division school) who served from 1981-84. She was followed by Mary Beth Brutton (Washburn, 1993-96); Ann King (College of New Jersey, 1999-2001); April Emory (Elizabeth City State, 2005-10); Anne Abicht (St. Cloud State, 2008-11); Cindy Fotti Potter (Columbia, 2011-14); Amie Canfield (Mount Holyoke and Vassar, 2017-present); KatieJo Kuhens (Wartburg and Bethany Lutheran, 2017-present); and Danielle Percival (Piedmont, 2019-present).
  • All-time CoSIDA Board of Directors Female University Division Representatives: 15
    • In 1983-84, Debbie Harmison White (Old Dominion, now retired) was the first female to serve on the board from a university division school. She was followed by: Mary Jo Haverbeck (Penn State, 1984-87); Tammi Broz Boclair (Southland Conference, 1992-95); Chris Anderson (Nebraska, 1995-98); Dale Gallagher (Kent State, 1997-99); Tam Flarup (Wisconsin, 1998-2001); Shelly Poe (West Virginia, 1999-2003); Barb Kowal (Texas, 2000-03); Judy Willson (Sun Belt Conference, 2001-07); Ann Marie Person (Atlantic 10 Conference, 2007-10); Chevonne Mansfield (American Athletic Conference, 2013-16); Diane Nordstrom (Wisconsin, 2015-18); Jessica Poole (Ole Miss/Vanderbilt/Florida Atlantic, 2016-19); Amy Yakola (Atlantic Coast Conference, 2016-19); and Denise Thompson (Big Sky Conference, 2018-present).
  • All-Time CoSIDA Female Staff Members: 2
    • Barb Kowal (Director of Professional Development and External Affairs) has served since 2009, while Director of Membership Engagement Laurie Bollig has been on the CoSIDA staff since 2014.
  • Current CoSIDA Committees that are chaired by females: 6
    • Advocacy Committee (Shelly Poe, Auburn); Convention Programming (Cindy Potter, CoSIDA 2nd VP/Columbia College); Diversity and Inclusion (Jessica Poole, Chicago State); New Media (Katie Mucci, Missouri Valley Conference); Special Awards (Diane Nordstrom, Wisconsin); Young Professionals (Olivia Coiro, Syracuse).
 
Many of the females listed above, along with other female colleagues, have received a multitude of CoSIDA Special Awards in addition to Hall of Fame honors. You can find the full listing of all-time Special Award recipients HERE.
 
When you see or talk to any of these female athletic communication professionals, please give them a big thank you for their leadership in our organization as we salute them during Women's History Month!