May 16, 2008

Garden City, N.Y. - The NCAA and Texas A&M's Laboratory for Diversity in Sport announced recipients of the 2008 Diversity in Athletics Awards this week and Adelphi University was among the honorees.

The awards, which center on overall excellence in diversity and also honor NCAA institutions in seven specific categories, were established in 2005-06. This year, Divisions I and II institutions are being honored. Division III schools will be recognized in 2008-09.

Winners were chosen based on responses from surveys mailed to the top six administrators at each Division I and Division II institution. Only schools with two or more responses were included. Researchers also relied on U.S. Department of Education and Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act data.

Recipients of the 2008 Diversity in Athletics Awards will be publicly recognized by the NCAA Office for Diversity and Inclusion and the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport during the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Convention June 9-12 in Dallas.

Schools also were recognized for diversity strategy, gender diversity of department employees, racial diversity of department employees, value and attitudinal diversity of department employees, graduation of African-American male student-athletes, graduation of African-American female student-athletes and gender-equity compliance (substantial proportionality).

Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion, lauded the award-winning institutions for embracing all aspects of diversity.

"You can look at the number of schools being recognized this year and see that many NCAA colleges and universities openly embrace the benefits of having a diverse workforce and a diverse student-athlete body that achieves high standards in academics," Westerhaus said. "The Diversity in Athletics Awards not only provide visibility for member schools with good practices, but also create dialogue that focuses on the essential need for diversity and inclusion in athletics and higher education. We recognize that significant programs to enhance diversity are underway in Division III and we look forward to appropriately recognizing those efforts in the coming year."

George Cunningham, director of the laboratory and chair of the division of sport management at Texas A&M, said the wide-ranging size, type and regional location of this year's awards recipients was encouraging. "This suggests that is it possible to excel in diversity no matter where you are," he said.

For a complete list of winners in each category or for more information about the Texas A&M Laboratory for Diversity in Sport, visit http://lds.tamu.edu/Default.htm.