Hello Huskies!

After spending most of September on the road – either traveling with the Huskie Football team or at various meetings, including participating in a mock selection exercise of the College Football Playoff in Dallas and on a panel of athletic directors and legislators in Washington, D.C. sponsored by Lead1 Association – it's good to be home!

Today is also a great day because after several months of hard work, we have completed and are now able to celebrate the 2018-19 NIU Athletics Annual Report. Putting together this document every year is important as we review the successes in and out of competition, document the milestone accomplishments, be transparent with our financial information, and take another opportunity to thank our supporters. In addition, this year, we are posting the "report card" compiled by the Student-Athlete Academic Support Services staff, which provides a deep dive into the academic numbers of our student-athletes and sports programs.   

As the complete athletic department Annual Report came together, one of the themes that seemed to appear on every page was that of collaboration. Frankly, it was a little eye-opening when I began to really consider all the different areas – across the university and throughout the community – that NIU Athletics connects with on a regular basis. 

As a department, we go out of our way to reach, and to work with, as many areas of the university and of the community as possible.  It starts with our events - from bringing together current students and alumni from every college and major at our games (especially football games, both home and away), to bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area through Convocation Center events – but our connections and partnerships go well beyond these types of gatherings.  

Every unit within athletics, including every sports team, is engaged in collaboration – some on a daily basis, others at certain times of the year.  Below, I have highlighted a few of the ways athletics is committed to its role as a partner to every aspect of our campus and in the community.

INSTRUCTION & INTERNSHIPS

• NIU Athletics personnel across multiple units serve as instructors, guest lecturers and internship coordinators, providing both classroom and lab instruction as well as career guidance and hands on experience. For the past two years, I have worked with Dr. Chad McEvoy to co-teach a class on Administration of Intercollegiate Athletics in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education.  Likewise, several of our athletic trainers serve as both classroom and lab instructors for the KNPE athletic training program; they also supervise athletic training students who get the opportunity to work directly with NIU student-athletes. Similarly, students in the Field Experience in Kinesiology class receive credit for observation hours with our sports performance staff in the Northwestern Medicine Sports Performance Center. Staff in our Student-Athlete Academic Support Services unit (SAASS) also serve as instructors for the University 101 class which provides an introduction to NIU for incoming students. Multiple units in our department also utilize and provide valuable work experience to undergraduate and graduate students in KNPE, communications, the College of Business, the NIU Law School and beyond through internship opportunities in SAASS, Marketing, Athletics Communications and Compliance.
• When we opened the Phi Sigma Kappa Alumni Association of NIU Nutrition Center within the Northwestern Medicine Performance Center this past May, the collaboration of our naming partners, but just as importantly, our campus partners within the College of Health and Human Services as well as Campus Dining Services, was critical to the success of this new effort. Two graduate assistants from Nutrition and Dietetics were hired to monitor and to support the Nutrition Center through information and educational programming, while Campus Dining Services has stocked the area with fruit and other healthy food options for student-athletes.

OUT AND ABOUT

• Many times, outreach and building attendance efforts begin at home, and no one understands that more than our Marketing and Game Experience staff, who had a presence at more than 20 orientation sessions for new and incoming transfer students throughout the spring and summer. The marketing staff talked to students about their access to NIU games, including through the new mobile ticketing initiative put into place this year. The staff also staffed an NIU Athletics table at the Involvement Fair and were visible at the Huskie Fall Kickoff event during the university's Welcome Days.
• The on-campus events were just the beginning for the marketing team, which made appearances at a number of community events through the summer and early fall. These included the DeKalb/Sycamore Expo, the Genoa Expo, CornFest, NIU Night with the Kane County Cougars, NIU Day with the White Sox, NIU Night with the Chicago Cubs and Tuesdays on the Town in both Sycamore and DeKalb.  These events helped promote ticket sales and gave exposure to the NIU Athletics brand.  

FOR THE KIDS  

• Through a number of initiatives, NIU Athletics has partnered with local schools and libraries to support children in our community.  Over the summer, NIU Athletics worked with the DeKalb and Sycamore public libraries to provide football ticket vouchers as prizes for their summer reading programs, capped off by a visit from Victor E. Huskie at their end of the summer parties.  During the school year, NIU student-athletes serve as mentors at Clinton Rosette and Huntley Middle Schools where they meet once a week with an assigned student, developing a relationship and serving as a role model.
• Through the Mid-American Conference and the College Football Playoff Foundation, NIU is able to provide a $5,000 donation to the DeKalb and Sycamore school districts to support specific programming by each district.  We work with the districts to provide and identify that support.  
• NIU women's basketball annually holds an "Education Day" game with elementary schools invited to bring students to the game, which also includes educational aspects – whether through STEM demonstrations on the concourse prior to the game, or a workbook provided for students to use skills they have learned while also enjoying the game.

DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS

• NIU Athletics has been a leader in developing partnerships which positively impact the community and/or the university.  The first great example of this is the Huskies' relationship with the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), which dates back even before the opening of the Convocation Center when Chick Evans Field House hosted IHSA basketball supersectional games.  That relationship – in collaboration with the DeKalb County Convention & Visitor's Bureau – went to the next level when Huskie Stadium became the home for the IHSA Football State Championships in odd years beginning in 2013.  According to factors provided by the Illinois Office of Tourism, the economic impact of the 2017 IHSA State Football Championships over Thanksgiving Weekend was estimated at $1 million with more than 25,000 tickets sold.  NIU will host the Championships again on November 29-30, 2019.
• Huskie Athletics was also the first unit at NIU to partner with Northwestern Medicine. An initial agreement for Northwestern Medicine to provide medical care for student-athletes and physician's services at games, led to the university's current arrangement for Northwestern Medicine to manage student health services for the entire campus.

Amazingly, this list is not exhaustive as it does not include the hours and hours of community service performed by our teams and student-athletes, as well as the individual causes they support. These range from game days and promotions devoted to cancer (breast, pediatric), canned food drives, diabetes, Diversity and Inclusion, military appreciation and more. In nearly every instance, the sport program and marketing department work with affiliated groups both on and off campus to invite, educate and provide support to their causes. On the community service side, in the past month alone, NIU student-athletes have volunteered at CornFest, the DeKalb Corn Classic, Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, the Superhero Challenge Race and UMW Fall Missions Thrift Sale.

In addition, I could add the numerous campus events held at the NIU Convocation Center, including STEMFest, Career Fairs and of course, commencements. In every instance, the Convocation Center staff works closely with the sponsoring organization to provide the best possible experience for the participants and the patrons.