Connee Zotos, former director of athletics at Drew University and an authority on collegiate sports administration and Title IX funding and equity issues, has joined the full-time faculty of the NYU Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management at the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS). She will be a clinical associate professor within the Tisch Center’s undergraduate and graduate sports management programs, beginning fall 2008.
Zotos directed the 18 varsity sports programs at Drew from 1994 to 2008. During her tenure, 11 different teams won a total of 53 conference championships. In 2006, she helped start the Landmark Conference, comprised of eight NCAA Division III schools from the Mid-Atlantic region, with a strong focus on academics as well as sports.
NYU SCPS Dean Robert Lapiner said, “We are delighted to have Connee Zotos join our faculty. Her broad professional experience in the not-for-profit, yet entrepreneurial, world of collegiate athletics, her background as an educator, and her impact as a role model are noteworthy. Her arrival will contribute to providing our students the opportunity to learn about another rich dimension of the business of sports, grounded-in principle-in the academic and developmental values of university life.”
A noted advocate for and author on the issue of gender equity in college athletics, Professor Zotos earned national recognition for transforming the Drew athletics department from a traditional, tiered-funding model to a sports-equity model that provided more equitable funding and resources across men’s and women’s teams. Additionally, she has chaired three Title IX committees, a Gender Equity Task Force, and has served on the Executive Committee of Project Fair Play.
“The addition of Connee Zotos to our full-time faculty brings the business sensibility and educational vitality of collegiate sports administration to NYU’s curricula in a transformational fashion,” states Lalia Rach, the Tisch Center’s divisional dean and HVS International chair. “Her longstanding commitment to academics and athletics provides current and emerging leaders engaged in sports business an established and robust role model of excellence, experience, and integrity.”
“The opportunity to join a faculty that includes noted academics as well as recognized leaders in the hospitality, tourism, and sports management industries is very exciting,” says Zotos. “I’m looking forward to sharing my perspective on how the world of intercollegiate athletics has evolved as a sports business, and to educate students on the complexities of operating that ‘business’ within a college or university, in which the academic mission must take precedence.”
A native of New Jersey, Zotos holds a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s in physical education with an emphasis in sports management from the University of Colorado, and a bachelor’s in physical education from Glassboro State College (NJ).
Prior to Drew, Zotos served two years as director of athletics at William Smith College, 10 years as a teacher education and sports management faculty member at the University of Texas, four years as the director of women’s athletics at Philadelphia Textile, and seven years as a college coach.
She is a prolific writer and speaker in the areas of coaches’ employment and compensation systems, creating tiered athletics program models, coach evaluation, and Title IX. Zotos has served on the NCAA Division III Management Council, on the boards of directors of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA) and the Collegiate Women Sports Awards, on an advisory board of the Women’s Sports Foundation, as president of the College Athletic Administrators of New Jersey, and on several other national, regional, and conference committees.
Zotos has been recognized for her accomplishments by many organizations. She is a recipient of the NACWAA National Administrator of the Year Award, a District Administrator of the Year award, a New Jersey Honor Award for Outstanding Leadership in Sports, two Coaching Excellence awards, and is included in the Encyclopedia of Women and Sport in America. In 2004, she was inducted into the Glassboro State College - Rowan University Sports Hall of Fame.
About the Tisch Center and the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies-The Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management, one of several comprehensive academic divisions within the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS), offers undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs in hospitality, tourism, and sports business and is host to the annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. Established in 1934, NYU-SCPS is among the 14 colleges and schools that comprise New York University, one of the largest private research universities in the United States. Through its faculty, curricula, and vibrant professional and academic networks, NYU-SCPS captures the expertise of key sectors where New York leads globally: Real Estate; Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management; Global Affairs; Philanthropy; Communications Media, Publishing, Design, and Digital Arts; Business, Marketing, and Finance; and the Liberal and Applied Arts, among others. Rigorous and timely programs in these and related areas attract undergraduate and graduate students immersed in university life, working professionals in 14 graduate degrees, and New Yorkers of all backgrounds enrolled in approximately 2,500 continuing education courses, certificate programs, conferences, and seminars annually. NYU-SCPS is widely considered to be the most complete example of NYU’s founding commitment to be “In and Of the City”-and Of the World.