Related
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CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee
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Communicators Outside the Lines Feature Series
This is the next profile Q and A in a series entitled
Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community produced by the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee. Read past profiles at
CoSIDA.com/CommunicatorsOTL.
HAVE IDEAS OR MEMBERS TO NOMINATE FOR THIS SERIES?
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CoSIDA member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair
Chris Mitchell, Washington University in St. Louis Assistant AD for Communications, at (618) 560-9280 or
mitchell@wustl.edu.
Thor is a regular contributor at CoSIDA conventions and is part of
the programming committee.
Q&A with Ira Thor
Director of Athletic Communications and Marketing
New Jersey City University
by Emily Loux, MASCAC Director of Media Relations
CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee member
Ira Thor, who has been honored with multiple awards in his athletic communications career and serves in several high-profile regional and national leadership positions within the profession and his community, is entering his 19th year as Director of Athletic Communications and Marketing at New Jersey City University. In that position, he, is responsible for all aspects of sports media relations and athletic communications for the University’s 13-team athletics program, including all content on the University’s athletics website,
NJCUGothicKnights.com. Thor, who currently serves as Past President of D3SIDA, the Division III governing body of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), was the organization’s fourth-ever president from 2015-17. He is in his seventh year of an eight-year term in the presidential rotation.
Q: You were recently elected to the Howell Township Board of Education in Howell, New Jersey. What prompted your involvement with the school board?
Thor: I moved to Howell eight years ago and didn’t pay much attention to local politics. I started to pay attention when I heard people in town complaining about the schools. They were doing a reconfiguration of the schools from K-5 to K-2, 3-5, etc… it was an issue that divided our town. What prompted me to get involved was that the parents felt like their voices didn’t matter and that bothered me. When I heard enough people say that there was a problem, I wanted to be part of the solution. At the time I had two kids now I have three. When I initially decided to run, I will have kids involved in the school system until 2032. Nothing is more important than our kid’s education. If I can use my expertise in communications, as a coach in a managerial way to help our students and families in the community, why not step up?
Q: You recently accumulated over 1,000 hours for the CoSIDA Volunteer 15 program. What events/activities are you involved in to achieve that many volunteer hours?
Thor: The Board of Education is the biggest thing I do outside of my work at NJCU. Many people don’t know that there is more to it than just sitting in a meeting twice a month for 4-5 hours. You must go to committee meetings. I am on the Labor, Board of Ed’s Technology, Policy and Community Interaction committees. Over the course of the year, I coach four different teams. I have been coaching soccer for 10 years at least. I am an assistant coach with the Colts Neck Thundering Herd, my daughter Kendra’s team. I coach my daughter Julia’s U4 soccer team, basically teaching little kids the fundamentals of soccer. In the winter, I coach Kendra’s recreational basketball team in Howell and currently, I am coaching the PAL basketball summer league team.
Q: With your current position at NJCU and all your community involvement, how do you balance all of that and your family life?
Thor: I have a remarkable, wonderful wife. It is all about structure for me. Every night there is usually something accounted for whether it is a soccer team I am playing on or an event at the college. My wife and I have a calendar and we are very structured with it. We know where everyone should be always. We try hard to make time for each other and our family. It is all about having structure and a plan plus trying to follow that.
Q: What advice do you have for SIDs who want to volunteer or get involved in their community but aren’t sure how to do it?
Thor: Ultimately, you have to evaluate your own situation. What do you have time for and where are your passions? It will vary for every person. Whether you are single, married with no kids or married with kids, it will be different for everyone. My community involvement revolves a lot around my kids and what they are doing. Everyone has their own personal things that resonate with them. It is important to find out what that is and evaluate what time you have to give. Giving back is important. I don’t think it was 20 years ago. Having kids changes you. It is more about them and less about you. It is about very you find value and what is important.
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