Voices of Diversity: Katrice Albert

NCAA Photos

Call to action for sports: I’ve had the opportunity to speak to college presidents, conference commissioners and senior leaders in the NCAA about inclusion, and I encourage them to demonstrate courageous leadership by having impatience with slow progress and by modeling inclusive-excellence behaviors. This involves being intentional about equity, diversity and inclusion in campus and organizational hiring practices. Athletics leaders can partner with their campus chief diversity officer and chief human resources officer to align athletics diversity goals with university strategic plans. We are so thrilled with and offer congratulations to institutions that have signed the NCAA Presidential Pledge, reaffirming their intentions and their actions in diversity in hiring practices.

Opportunities missing in sports: We have been very thoughtful about this critical issue and developed opportunities to get our rising star NCAA administrators and coaches directly connected to individuals who have influence and/or hiring responsibilities. For example, with the NCAA Champion Football Forum, we have brought search firms into the program to conduct mock interviews with coordinators who have career aspirations to be head coaches. This has helped the coaches with visibility and relationship-building and has helped the firms, who are generally on the front line when it comes to high-profile institutional searches. Search firms are key connectors of diverse candidates and those with hiring authority. We’ve also implemented similar strategies with other NCAA leadership development programs to help athletics administrators who have career aspirations to become athletic directors.