September 21, 2004

Emory Hires Well

FROM THE FAR RIGHT SIDE OF THE BELL CURVE comes word of a notable AD hiring at D3 Emory University in Atlanta.

The eminently qualified Betsy Stephenson, most recently second in command at UCLA�with its wide profile, national notoriety and daunting legacy�has been selected to lead an already proficient Emory athletic program to even greater heights.

The rarified neighborhood of the aforementioned right side of the bell curve where Emory sits is also populated by such stellar institutions as Williams, Amherst, Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Rice and a small handful of other dual achievers in athletics and academics.

Like the schools listed above, Emory draws its students from the academic cream of the crop, with SAT scores in the 1300 area and more than half of its students with high school grade-point averages better than 3.8.

Emory excels at athletics as well, placing second nationally the past two years for best all-around Division III program in the NACDA Director�s Cup. And Williams College, the juggernaut of the Northeast, shows no signs of relinquishing its numero uno designation.

Expectations are high for Ms. Stephenson.

Says Emory senior VP John Ford, who oversaw the search process, "We're looking to create our own model, to change the way research universities think about athletics, and we think Betsy can move us there because she came from such a powerhouse university.�

The pressure is on, and by all accounts Stephenson is more than capable of meeting and exceeding the challenge.

Stephenson has a personality, a likeability and a classy style that has won enormous respect from legions of colleagues. She is said to be conspicuously ethical, well organized and genuinely caring of student-athletes and coaches.

Most recently Associate AD / Senior Woman Administrator at UCLA, Stephenson was one of three finalists for the UCLA AD position. She was in the running for the Michigan AD position as well.

One would not be going out too far on a limb to predict that Ms. Stephenson�after a fruitful stint at Emory�might be AD of a large D1 program next time around.

You read it here first.

(this 346 word excerpt�with accompanying commentary�was distilled from an 1175 word article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of 9-20-04)