Six-member College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame Class of 2024 highlights Special Award honorees
A long-time CSC member from the Northeast,
Lisa Champagne has served as NESCAC Assistant Director for Media Relations since the 2016-17 academic year. She oversees the conference's website, social media platforms, awards system and assists with conference championships. The NESCAC is a group of 11 highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont.
Prior to that, Champagne spent 17 years in the athletic communications department at the University of Vermont. She joined the staff as the assistant director of athletic communications in 1998 and was promoted to director of athletic communications in May 2005. She then was named director of social media and website development in September 2015 while overseeing several sports.
Champagne has vast experience at international sports events. She served as a media relations staff member at Soldier Hollow for the Nordic, biathlon and Nordic-combined events at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Champagne worked the 1999 and 2003 Women's World Cup, the Special Olympics World Games in 1995, the 2012 Ice Hockey Women's World Championships and was a media relations volunteer at the 2004 USGA Women's Open.
Among her numerous honors, Champagne earned a 2023 CSC 25-Year Award at last year's convention. She received the prestigious Irving T. Marsh Award (university division from EAST-COMM (formerly ECAC-SIDA) in 2013. The award, named after Irving T. Marsh, the ECAC Service Bureau founder and director, is given annually to a university and college division sports information director who has exhibited excellence in the field of sports communications. Champagne was the seventh woman to receive the honor since its inception in 1966.
Prior to her time at Vermont, Champagne served as director of sports information at Saint Michael's College (Vermont) for two years and was a two-year member of the Quinnipiac University sports information office, serving as assistant director for 16 months before being appointed interim SID. Champagne was a student assistant in the sports information office at her alma mater, Southern New Hampshire University, for three years.