2002

Dr. Carole L. Mushier

Carole Mushier was an Adjunct Professor for Financial Planning and Money Management at Indian River Community College from 1985-1998. She previously served as a Professor, Director of Women’s Athletics and Field Hockey Coach at SUNY College at Cortland. 

Mushier served as President of the AIAW in 1979. She also Mushier served on the Women’s Sports Foundation Executive Board, the American Council on Education National Forum, NAGWS and the USOC Collegiate Sports Committee.    Mushier’s publications include Personality and Selected Women Athletes and Team Sports for Girls and Women. 

Mushier received her B.S. from Boston University, her M.A. from Columbia University and her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California.

Dr. Carole Oglesby

Carole Oglesby is a Professor Emeritus in sport psychology (2001) from Temple University and was Chairperson in Kinesiology at California State University Northridge from 2003-2009. As a sport psychology consultant, she has worked with Olympians and Pan American Games champions in rowing, cycling, paralympic cycling, and the USA Deaf Women’s volleyball team. To further her capacities, she earned PhDs in sport psychology (Purdue University, 1969) and counseling psychology (Temple University, 1999).

Oglesby was on the executive committee of the USA World University Games group, 1972-1992; US Olympic Committee House of Delegates, 1992-1996; and the USOC Sport Psychology Registry for 12 years. She has presented papers and conducted training and leadership workshops in 31 countries; published pioneering works Women and Sport: Myth to Reality, Black Women and Sport, and Encyclopedia of Women and Sport in America.

Oglesby is a past President of WomenSport International, executive committee member of the International Working Group for Women and Sport, principal contributor to UN-DAW monograph Women2000 and Beyond: Women, Gender Equality and Sport.

Oglesby competed in national level softball championships in 1962, 1963 and 1965, and coached teams from Purdue University and the University of Massachusetts to the College World Series. She is a recipient of the Women’s Sports Foundation Billie Jean King award and the AAHPERD R. Tait McKinzie award.

Dr. Donna Lopiano

Dr. Donna Lopiano is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Sports Foundation (1992-2007) and was named one of “The 10 Most Powerful Women in Sports” by Fox Sports. The Sporting News has repeatedly listed her as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Sports.” Lopiano has been nationally and internationally recognized for her leadership advocating for gender equity in sports by the International Olympic Committee, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports, the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

Lopiano served for 18 years as the University of Texas at Austin Director of Women’s Athletics and is a past President of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. During her tenure at the University of Texas, Lopiano constructed what many believed to be the premiere women’s athletics program in the country, twice earning the top program in the nation award.

Prior to the University of Texas, Lopiano served as an Assistant Professor and Assistant Athletic Director at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

Recognized as one of the foremost national experts on gender equity in sport, Lopiano has testified about Title IX and gender equity before three Congressional committees, served as a consultant to the U.S. Office for Civil Rights Department of Health, Education and Welfare Title IX Task Force and as an expert witness in twenty-eight court cases.

Lopiano received her bachelor’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University, her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California and has been the recipient of five honorary doctoral degrees.

Dr. Laurie Mabry

Dr. Laurie Mabry led Illinois State's women's sports from a low-profile women's recreation association to a major national program as Director of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics from 1960-80.

She was the Women's Athletics Director when Illinois State hosted the first women's basketball national tournament in 1972. Mabry also was a Professor of Physical Education at Illinois State, retiring in 1985.

Mabry served as president of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), the national governing body for college women's athletics, from 1975-76. She was inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Directors Hall of Fame and the Women's Institute on Sport and Education Hall of Fame.

Dr. Peggy Burke

Norma Peggy Burke served as President of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) from 1976 to 1977. Under her leadership, AIAW influenced issues relating to six-player girl's basketball, Title IX policy interpretation and National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) decisions regarding women's college championships.

Burke also taught physical education as a professor at the University of Iowa. A speech given by Burke was published in the November 15, 1979 edition of Vital Speeches of the Day, and she gave a number of addresses and testimonies during her term as AIAW president.

In addition, Burke participated in several groups supporting equal rights for women: the National Women's Conference, the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women and the Iowa Coordinating Committee of International Women's Year.

Merrily Dean Baker

Merrily Dean Baker began her career in intercollegiate athletics as the field hockey coach at St. Lawrence University in 1965 before working with the gymnastics team at Temple University while earning her master's degree.

Baker accepted her first administrative position at Franklin & Marshall College in 1969, when she became the Director of its first Women's Intercollegiate Athletics Program.  

In 1970, Baker was hired by Princeton as the associate director of the department of athletics, physical education and recreation. During her 12 years at Princeton, she initiated many of the programs in which women first participated, including basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, swimming and tennis. She also was a member of the first group of women administrators to meet and discuss the establishment of Ivy League championship competition for women. During her tenure at Princeton, Baker also served as president for the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).

From 1982-88, Baker acquired valuable Big Ten Conference experience at the University of Minnesota as director of the department of women's intercollegiate athletics: a nine-sport, $3-million program. In 1988, her last year with the Golden Gophers, she was named one of the "100 Most Important Women" in America by the Ladies Home Journal. In September 2005, Baker was inducted into the M Club Hall of Fame.

From 1992-95, Baker oversaw Michigan State's 25-sport, $18-million athletics program that provided services for over 800 student-athletes. Baker became the first woman to be named Athletics Director at a Big Ten university and only the second at a Division I football-playing institution when she was hired in 1992 by Michigan State University. It was a nationally significant step for Michigan State University as Baker joined the University of Washington's Barbara Hedges as the only women to hold the position.

A native of Bryn Mawr, PA, Baker was a six-sport athlete at East Stroudsburg University and received her bachelor's degree in 1964.