General | March 07, 2019

CLEVELAND – Dr. M. Grace Calhoun, the T. Gibbs Kane, Jr. W'69 Director of Athletics and Recreation at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named a winner of the Under Armour AD of the Year Award, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) announced today. She is one of four winners in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and will be recognized on June 11 at NACDA's 54th Annual Convention in Orlando. Calhoun is the only Penn AD to have received this award.

"I am truly honored to receive this prestigious award," Calhoun said. "This recognition is a reflection of the outstanding student-athletes, coaches and staff who represent Penn as we make an impact through athletics and recreation. It is humbling to join the list of previous winners and I am so thankful to the committee for selecting me."

"The athletics directors who have been recognized as part of the Athletics Director of the Year Program continue to raise the bar as thought leaders and decision makers in college athletics," said Bob Vecchione, NACDA Chief Executive Officer.

All NACDA-member directors of athletics in the United States, Canada and Mexico who met the criteria were eligible for the award. Among the criteria were service as an AD for a minimum of five academic years; demonstration of commitment to higher education and student-athletes; continuous teamwork, loyalty and excellence; and the ability to inspire individuals or groups to high levels of accomplishments.

A proven, impactful leader, Calhoun is passionate about the holistic development of students and the promotion of physical, mental and emotional wellness through sport participation.  She has spent 25 years making a difference locally and nationally by administering high-quality programming and formulating and facilitating the adoption of values-based policies governing sport at the institutional, conference and national levels. Calhoun's leadership was recognized by being named the 2017 Division I FCS Administrator of the Year by the Women Leaders in College Sports.

Calhoun's first five years at Penn have been highlighted by increased competitiveness resulting in 20 Ivy League or conference championships by 13 different sports, three individual national titles, and two national runner-up team finishes. In addition, Penn has had 79 All-Americans, 166 individual NCAA Championship qualifiers, 15 Coaches of the Year, 18 Ivy League Players of the Year, 91 Ivy League individual champions, 160 first-team All-Ivy selections and a Rhodes Scholar. In the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) announcement in 2017, Penn ranked fourth nationally with 17 teams rated in the top 10 percent of their sport.

Calhoun recently was appointed the chair of the NCAA Division I Council, a high-level group responsible for the day-to-day decision-making for Division I. Calhoun will also represent the Council with a seat on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, a group comprised predominantly of college presidents with ultimate decision-making responsibility for Division I.

Under Calhoun's leadership, Penn Athletics has launched the "Game Onward" fundraising campaign, raising over $112M to date toward the $150M campaign goal. Beyond building or renovating seven athletics facilities in this campaign, Calhoun has already more than doubled the size of Penn's athletics endowment and increased annual fund raising to historic highs. Calhoun's five-year strategic plan for Penn Athletics includes building out three "centers of excellence" for which Penn Athletics will become nationally known: a best-in-class partnership with Penn's Wharton School of Business on leadership and character development through sport; a cutting-edge program in sports performance and injury prevention in partnership with the world-renowned Penn Medicine; and a civic engagement program in conjunction with Penn's Netter Center whereby student-athletes are having local, national and global impact.

Calhoun arrived at Penn from Loyola University Chicago, where she was Director of Athletics and Assistant Vice President. Prior to Loyola, Calhoun served for six years as Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator at Indiana University, four years as Associate Executive Director of the Patriot League conference, three years as Associate Athletic Director at Dartmouth College, and began her athletics administrative work serving four years at the University of Florida and two years at St. Francis University.

Calhoun graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1992 with a degree in electrical engineering, where she competed on the track and field team, a sport she picked up late in high school after her retirement as an elite gymnast. In addition to her bachelor's degree from Brown, Calhoun earned master's degrees from the University of Florida (exercise science) and Lehigh University (MBA), and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Florida.