Press release from UT:
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Athletics and the University extend gratitude to Dr. Randa Ryan, who is announcing her retirement from Texas Athletics effective January 4, 2017. Ryan, executive senior associate athletics director, completes her work after fall semester 2016, and will work on projects related to Texas Athletics chronological historical data on student services and other pertinent areas. These projects are outlined by men’s athletics director Mike Perrin and Chris Plonsky, women’s athletics director.
“Randa has led a large services area and conducted programs with the highest level of integrity,” Perrin said. “We are proud of the many academic successes of our students during her years of leadership. We are thankful for her part in building a model program that supported the students identified by our great head coaches to compete and study at Texas. This program has a terrific base, and it will continue to flourish in the future.”
“Dr. Ryan is exceptionally dedicated to the University athletics and students,” Plonsky said. “In addition to serving our undergraduate students, she was instrumental in designing programming support for former men and women letterwinners to return to our University and achieve degree completion. Many of these students’ undergraduate degree progressions had been interrupted either for professional sports careers or personal hardship. These are some of our best academic and career success stories.”
“I am very grateful for the rare opportunity to blend my life’s work with the care and commitment I have for outstanding Student Athletes at UT,” Ryan said. “These young men and women have excelled while competing academically and athletically at the highest level. They have achieved graduation rates, APR percentages, and GPAs that are among the best in the country. But more than strong metrics, they have graduated from Texas as good citizens and strong, mature leaders ready to meet the challenges of the future. I am so proud of them.”
Perrin and Plonsky plan to post a job description this fall to secure a new leader for the student services area, which covers academics/personal and leadership development/career mentoring. Once that hire is made, Kathleen Richter Hastings, who has supervised daily student services operations the last two semesters and summer, will return to her previous role of supervising eligibility, degree progression and admissions processes for all Texas Athletics students and as lead men’s basketball academic counselor.
Ryan has been a 30-year employee of UT, starting as an assistant swimming coach (1985-88), including serving as an assistant to head coach Richard Quick for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 1988, she became an administrator under former women’s athletics director Dr. Donna Lopiano and former women’s academic advisor Dr. Sheila Rice.
Between 1988 and 1992, Ryan and the late Tina Bonci, former women’s athletics trainer and co-director of Texas Athletics sports medicine, advanced UT’s first women’s wellness program and sports performance team activities. The performance team included preeminent UT faculty members from pharmacy, business, kinesiology, and education plus experts in many other fields related to female athlete heath and performance from across the country.
The two became well published and were considered authorities in collegiate women’s sports participation in an academic setting, focusing on academics and athletics performance and on behavioral health.
Ryan eventually authored several papers on eating problems in athletics settings and has lectured and published extensively on student behavioral health programming, exercise and nutrition, in addition to building strong academic support models for high achieving young women and men.
Ryan became assistant athletics director for student services/academics in 1992. A year later, in May of 1993, the University announced the addition of three women’s sports (soccer, softball, rowing) as the result of a Title IX settlement.
With Rice, and while working toward her Ph.D. at Texas, Ryan helped supervise expanded academic services for 200-plus female students, establishing campus collaborations from new student orientations to university life, community service and career preparation programs.
The overall model was described as Longhorn PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In Developing Excellence).
When Rice retired, women’s AD/women’s basketball coach Jody Conradt appointed Ryan as associate athletics director for women’s athletics academic services. The Division IA Athletics Directors awarded UT’s overall student-athlete life skills program with a Citation of Excellence honor in fall 1997.
Texas had joined the Big 12 Conference in July 1996. Former men’s athletics director DeLoss Dodds and Conradt continued to merge previously separate men’s and women’s athletics operations areas. Fundraising and external services areas merged in 1994. The athletic training staffs merged in 1998 under a co-directors model.
After nine years serving in a dual role, Conradt stepped away from women’s AD duties in April 2001 to continue exclusively coaching women’s basketball. Shortly after, in 2002, Ryan and Bonci outlined their UT work in Chapter 8 of a highly acclaimed book The Female Athlete (Mary Lloyd Ireland and Aurelia Nattiv): Development of Studies and Wellness, The Texas Experience. The chapter focused on services and programming for female student-athletes.
The framework proved eminently applicable for all students.
In 2003, Dodds and women’s AD Plonsky requested benchmark studies of all Texas Athletics operations areas. Ryan and other academics staff led the benchmark study of the Texas men’s and women’s academic services areas, comparing Texas Athletics services to those offered by UT academic areas, as well those of other similar athletics programs in the Big 10 and Big 12, among others. The report on academics was completed in summer 2004.
In spring 2005, Dodds had men’s athletics students begin to assimilate on a sport by sport basis into the student academic services model supervised by Ryan. This continued through Dodds’ tenure and then his men’s AD successors through spring semester 2015. Ryan has co-reported to both the men’s and women’s ADs since 2005.
Today, Texas Athletics’ student services area provides year-round support for all students. In 2001, NCAA rules permitted incoming freshmen in men’s and women’s basketball to attend summer school classes. Today, nearly 200 students in a variety of men’s and women’s sports attend summer courses.
NCAA academic metrics, including Academic Performance Rate (APR) and Graduation Success Rate (GSR) have been in place since the 2003-04 academic year. Texas men’s and women’s teams have achieved consistently high metrics in APR for more than a decade, and their cumulative GPAs have been over 3.0 for several years.
Texas Athletics’ student services leadership often compared best practices with other campus departments on how to enhance the students’ college experience and overall success.
In late spring and summer 2010, Ryan and the student services staff participated in a UT commissioned study to expand and strengthen the pipeline and create successful academic and leadership experiences for low income students graduating from Texas high schools.
The resulting September 2011 report by current UT System Regent Sara Martinez Tucker and T. Vance McMahan was titled: “Preparing the Next Generation of Texas’ Leaders to Ensure the State’s Economic Vitality.” The report cited the positive components of Texas Athletics’ student-athlete academic services model, including identification of student needs prior to enrollment and use of University resources in testing, counseling and sexual/mental health.
Ryan also served on numerous national committees, including the NCAA Life Skills Committee, the Division I-A Athletics Directors Life Skills Committee and the American College of Sports Medicine Women’s Issues Committee. She received a UT Staff Excellence award in spring 2007 after being nominated by her staff members.
Dr. Ryan received a bachelor of science degree in liberal arts in 1984 from Schreiner College. At Texas, she earned a master of arts degree in 1991 in exercise physiology and a Ph.D. in 1996 in health education (interdisciplinary degree between the departments of psychology, nutrition kinesiology/health education).
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Athletics and the University extend gratitude to Dr. Randa Ryan, who is announcing her retirement from Texas Athletics effective January 4, 2017. Ryan, executive senior associate athletics director, completes her work after fall semester 2016, and will work on projects related to Texas Athletics chronological historical data on student services and other pertinent areas. These projects are outlined by men’s athletics director Mike Perrin and Chris Plonsky, women’s athletics director.
“Randa has led a large services area and conducted programs with the highest level of integrity,” Perrin said. “We are proud of the many academic successes of our students during her years of leadership. We are thankful for her part in building a model program that supported the students identified by our great head coaches to compete and study at Texas. This program has a terrific base, and it will continue to flourish in the future.”
“Dr. Ryan is exceptionally dedicated to the University athletics and students,” Plonsky said. “In addition to serving our undergraduate students, she was instrumental in designing programming support for former men and women letterwinners to return to our University and achieve degree completion. Many of these students’ undergraduate degree progressions had been interrupted either for professional sports careers or personal hardship. These are some of our best academic and career success stories.”
“I am very grateful for the rare opportunity to blend my life’s work with the care and commitment I have for outstanding Student Athletes at UT,” Ryan said. “These young men and women have excelled while competing academically and athletically at the highest level. They have achieved graduation rates, APR percentages, and GPAs that are among the best in the country. But more than strong metrics, they have graduated from Texas as good citizens and strong, mature leaders ready to meet the challenges of the future. I am so proud of them.”
Perrin and Plonsky plan to post a job description this fall to secure a new leader for the student services area, which covers academics/personal and leadership development/career mentoring. Once that hire is made, Kathleen Richter Hastings, who has supervised daily student services operations the last two semesters and summer, will return to her previous role of supervising eligibility, degree progression and admissions processes for all Texas Athletics students and as lead men’s basketball academic counselor.
Ryan has been a 30-year employee of UT, starting as an assistant swimming coach (1985-88), including serving as an assistant to head coach Richard Quick for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 1988, she became an administrator under former women’s athletics director Dr. Donna Lopiano and former women’s academic advisor Dr. Sheila Rice.
Between 1988 and 1992, Ryan and the late Tina Bonci, former women’s athletics trainer and co-director of Texas Athletics sports medicine, advanced UT’s first women’s wellness program and sports performance team activities. The performance team included preeminent UT faculty members from pharmacy, business, kinesiology, and education plus experts in many other fields related to female athlete heath and performance from across the country.
The two became well published and were considered authorities in collegiate women’s sports participation in an academic setting, focusing on academics and athletics performance and on behavioral health.
Ryan eventually authored several papers on eating problems in athletics settings and has lectured and published extensively on student behavioral health programming, exercise and nutrition, in addition to building strong academic support models for high achieving young women and men.
Ryan became assistant athletics director for student services/academics in 1992. A year later, in May of 1993, the University announced the addition of three women’s sports (soccer, softball, rowing) as the result of a Title IX settlement.
With Rice, and while working toward her Ph.D. at Texas, Ryan helped supervise expanded academic services for 200-plus female students, establishing campus collaborations from new student orientations to university life, community service and career preparation programs.
The overall model was described as Longhorn PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In Developing Excellence).
When Rice retired, women’s AD/women’s basketball coach Jody Conradt appointed Ryan as associate athletics director for women’s athletics academic services. The Division IA Athletics Directors awarded UT’s overall student-athlete life skills program with a Citation of Excellence honor in fall 1997.
Texas had joined the Big 12 Conference in July 1996. Former men’s athletics director DeLoss Dodds and Conradt continued to merge previously separate men’s and women’s athletics operations areas. Fundraising and external services areas merged in 1994. The athletic training staffs merged in 1998 under a co-directors model.
After nine years serving in a dual role, Conradt stepped away from women’s AD duties in April 2001 to continue exclusively coaching women’s basketball. Shortly after, in 2002, Ryan and Bonci outlined their UT work in Chapter 8 of a highly acclaimed book The Female Athlete (Mary Lloyd Ireland and Aurelia Nattiv): Development of Studies and Wellness, The Texas Experience. The chapter focused on services and programming for female student-athletes.
The framework proved eminently applicable for all students.
In 2003, Dodds and women’s AD Plonsky requested benchmark studies of all Texas Athletics operations areas. Ryan and other academics staff led the benchmark study of the Texas men’s and women’s academic services areas, comparing Texas Athletics services to those offered by UT academic areas, as well those of other similar athletics programs in the Big 10 and Big 12, among others. The report on academics was completed in summer 2004.
In spring 2005, Dodds had men’s athletics students begin to assimilate on a sport by sport basis into the student academic services model supervised by Ryan. This continued through Dodds’ tenure and then his men’s AD successors through spring semester 2015. Ryan has co-reported to both the men’s and women’s ADs since 2005.
Today, Texas Athletics’ student services area provides year-round support for all students. In 2001, NCAA rules permitted incoming freshmen in men’s and women’s basketball to attend summer school classes. Today, nearly 200 students in a variety of men’s and women’s sports attend summer courses.
NCAA academic metrics, including Academic Performance Rate (APR) and Graduation Success Rate (GSR) have been in place since the 2003-04 academic year. Texas men’s and women’s teams have achieved consistently high metrics in APR for more than a decade, and their cumulative GPAs have been over 3.0 for several years.
Texas Athletics’ student services leadership often compared best practices with other campus departments on how to enhance the students’ college experience and overall success.
In late spring and summer 2010, Ryan and the student services staff participated in a UT commissioned study to expand and strengthen the pipeline and create successful academic and leadership experiences for low income students graduating from Texas high schools.
The resulting September 2011 report by current UT System Regent Sara Martinez Tucker and T. Vance McMahan was titled: “Preparing the Next Generation of Texas’ Leaders to Ensure the State’s Economic Vitality.” The report cited the positive components of Texas Athletics’ student-athlete academic services model, including identification of student needs prior to enrollment and use of University resources in testing, counseling and sexual/mental health.
Ryan also served on numerous national committees, including the NCAA Life Skills Committee, the Division I-A Athletics Directors Life Skills Committee and the American College of Sports Medicine Women’s Issues Committee. She received a UT Staff Excellence award in spring 2007 after being nominated by her staff members.
Dr. Ryan received a bachelor of science degree in liberal arts in 1984 from Schreiner College. At Texas, she earned a master of arts degree in 1991 in exercise physiology and a Ph.D. in 1996 in health education (interdisciplinary degree between the departments of psychology, nutrition kinesiology/health education).
