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CCIW Maureen Harty discusses why the league supports its athletics communicators
by Will Roleson – College Sports Communicators, Associate Executive Director @wroleson
In recent years, the
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, an NCAA Division III conference, has made it a priority to fund its member schools’ annual memberships with College Sports Communicators.
For the 2022-23 academic year, the CCIW purchased the new All-In group memberships for all nine of its institutions plus the conference office. As of Dec. 30, a total of 68 staff members have been included in those memberships, led by 27 from North Central University and 16 from Illinois Wesleyan University.
In this Q&A, CCIW Commissioner
Maureen Harty — who is herself a CSC member — discusses why the conference chooses to support its member schools with CSC memberships and why that is important to their professional development.
Why do you find it important to fund your CCIW member institutions' CSC membership dues from the conference office?
MH: In the past, the conference office would use grant funds to help offset the cost for one or two campus staff members to attend CSC’s annual convention. When the option to support the staffs at all nine member institutions came available, it was a much greater return on investment.
What do you think are the most important benefits of the CCIW's member SIDs (and the conference office staff) being CSC members?
MH: CSC members have the opportunity to grow both professionally and personally throughout the year through all the programming offered. Whether a veteran with many years of service or a rookie new to the field, the network that the entire staff has available to them is unparalleled.
Are the membership funds from a specific funding source or grant, or part of the conference's annual operating budget?
MH: The CCIW uses NCAA Grant funding to pay for the memberships.
In CSC's new All-In membership model, schools can sign up as many athletics communicators and related staff for one divisional rate. How do you hope your conference's schools take advantage of that option?
MH: Many of our members have included their graduate assistants and student workers in hopes of growing their interest in athletic communications as a profession. Others included their athletics directors and other direct reports to help administrators better understand all that goes into the field.
Your conference's teams have been very successful on the national stage recently, including North Central's football national championship a few weeks ago and Elmhurst making it to the men's basketball national title game last season. How have your schools' SIDs played a role in promoting your conference's successes?
MH: The athletic communications staff are really some of the unsung heroes who play a major role in any team’s success. Game stats and game film are invaluable to a coach for planning and preparation. A team’s webpage is the go-to source for information and the more successful as team is, the more publicity they receive. It’s up to the SID to manage all of that. Finally, without the efforts of the SIDs the student-athletes would not receive the recognition or awards they deserve.
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