1. Academics & Athletics:
A Winning Team
Athletic Staff Orientation, 2015
Bruce W. Clary, Vice President for Academic Affairs

2. Hello. I am Bruce Clary.
Vice President for Academic Affairs
and Professor of English
• I’m starting my 33rd year at
McPherson College.
• Two sons who were student-
athletes at McPherson College.
!

3. Personal Goal
Create a campus culture that recognizes the
interdependence of the athletic and academic
enterprises and fosters collaborative work toward
out shared values and goals.

4. Athletes v. Total Enrollment
0
175
350
525
700
10 Yrs Ago Now
Athletes FT Enrollment

5. What are the causes and effects of
growth such as this?
• Additional resources :: Coaches and facilities
• More sports and athletes :: Increased pressure
on facilities, practices at less than optimal times
• Increased pressure to recruit and be
successful :: Increased desire to get athletes on
campus early and hold them for longer hours

6. Sport Center Perspective
We’re doing what we’re being held accountable for
doing:
BUILDING SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS THAT WILL
ATTRACT AND RETAIN STUDENT-ATHLETES,
thereby growing the college and helping it meet its
enrollment goals.
!

7. What does this look like from the faculty
perspective?

9. So … what do faculty sometime look like
from a coach’s perspective?

11. So what do faculty sometime look like
from the Sport Center perspective?
• Anti-athletics
• Unappreciative of coaches’ and athletics’
contribution to the college’s welfare
• Unappreciative of student-athletes’
representation of the college
• Too rigid in their attendance and make-up work
policies

12. But we all share a common goal…

13. How do we work together
to get them here?

14. Relationships with faculty
• Both students and coaches
• Communicate respectfully
• Events & programming
• Regularly put academics in front of student-
athletes
• Coach students on classroom performance
forms
• Request syllabi from student-athletes

15. Services
• Attendance
• Study groups (on Academic Support web page)
• Tutoring
• Writing Center 7-10pm M-Th, 2-5pm Sunday
• Linda Barrett: barrettl@mcpherson.edu
• Academic support programming in dorms

16. bwc