NAADD Selects Inaugural Scholarship Awards Recipients

Cleveland, Ohio -- The Officers and Executive Committee of the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) have selected the inaugural recipients of the NAADD Scholarship Awards.

The winners will each receive a $2,000 grant to be used toward postgraduate studies. Students were required to have a minimum GPA of 3.0, be full-time seniors and be planning to pursue a graduate degree in intercollegiate athletics administration with an emphasis on collegiate fund raising.

This year's awards will be presented to Kristin Kruse of the University at Nebraska; and Melissa Rogers of Springfield College.

The awards will be presented at NAADD's Ninth Annual Workshop, June 14-16 at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas. The NAADD/NACMA Awards Luncheon will take place on Sunday, June 16.

NAADD is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities, enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics, and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics development and fund raising.

NAADD is administered by NACDA, which is now in its 37th year. NACDA serves as the professional and educational association for more than 6,100 college athletics directors, associates, assistants and conference commissioners at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Throughout its series of management seminars, clinics and workshops and publication of the bi-monthly magazine Athletics Administration, NACDA offers educational opportunities to its members. More than 1,200 athletics administrators annually attend the NACDA Convention. Additionally, NACDA operates the Sears Directors' Cup program, which honors the all-sports champion in each of the NCAA Divisions--I, II and III--and the NAIA, for a total of four trophies.

A brief biological sketch of each of the honorees follows:

Kristin Kruse, University of Nebraska
Kristin Kruse earned a 3.82 grade point average in marketing at the University of Nebraska. She was a member of the Golden Key, Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma national honoraries. Earning numerous academic scholarships, she has also been on the Dean's List each year since 1999. Kruse spent three years working as an assistant in the athletics development office. She is now putting in 30-hour weeks, in addition to her studies and other activities. Kruse was responsible for coordinating major fund-raising and social events and chaired a project in 2001 that raised close to $100,000 for the department. She also worked with the Nebraska state attorney general's office, serving as a complaint mediator and handling disputes between consumers and businesses. Kruse's involvement in extracurricular activities included membership in the UNL Campus Red Cross, UNL Chapter of the American Cancer Society, Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, Order of Omega and University Ambassadors. She will pursue a law degree at Nebraska.

Melissa Rogers, Springfield College
Melissa Rogers earned a 3.45 grade point average with a major in sports management and a minor in business at Springfield College. A four-year member of the field hockey team, Rogers was part of the Student Programming and Incorporating Responsi-ble Intervention Techniques (SPIRIT) Program, where she served as a peer mentor to student-athletes. She was one of four student-athletes to attend the Athlete Prevention Programming and Leadership Education (APPLE) Conference, a national event that allows schools to learn more about other peer education programs. As a member of the Sport Management Club, she assisted in organizing student trips, career panels and fund-raising events. She was also a member of the Springfield Sport Management Camp staff, counseling high school students in aspects of managing college sports programs. She was selected First-Team All-American by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) and earned New England Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors. Rogers, the 2001 field hockey captain, was twice named to the NFHCA All-Academic Team and was on Springfield's Dean's List all four years. She will pursue a master's degree in sports management/athletics administration at Springfield.