1994 to 1995 – National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators

Cary Groth served as the president of NACWAA the same year she was named a first-time director of athletics at Northern Illinois University. She credits much of NACWAA’s success during that time to both NACWAA intern Katie Ahrens, who is now the associate athletics director and SWA at the University of Wisconsin, and NACWAA’s first executive director, Jane Betts.

As NACWAA membership continued to grow along with opportunity for women in athletics, Cary and Jane prioritized fundraising to give NACWAA the necessary tools to increase its resources.

In the fall of 1995, NACWAA held its first NACWAA Volleyball Classic featuring 1994’s NCAA Volleyball Championships final four teams. This tournament included a 3-year title sponsorship agreement with State Farm Insurance, which marked the organization’s largest sponsorship to date.

The sponsorships continued to roll in in 1995 as Jostens became the official NACWAA Award sponsor, highlighted by the Jostens Administrator of the Year Award Program at the Fall Forum in 1995 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

With additional sponsorship funds and with support from the NCAA, NACWAA created and implemented a leadership advancement program to better prepare women in athletics for the next step in their career. In June of 1995, NACWAA hosted its first Institute for Administrative Advancement (IAA) at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. This inaugural program offered an “intense week of leadership training for colleagues whose career goals are directed toward the executive level of athletic administration” (NACWAA Newsletter 12.3).

IAA still exists today and serves as the premier leadership development program for women in intercollegiate athletics administration.

Other major accomplishments from NACWAA during this time:

• Katie Ahrens served as the first full-time intern entirely funded by NACWAA
• NACWAA announced two new giving programs: the NACWAA Partner Program and the NACWAA Founders Program
• The “NACWAA E-Mail List” was launched, which gave members access to NACWAA information, issues related to women in sport, and position openings
• Other major sponsorship deals: USAir became the official NACWAA Airline and Spalding served as the official ball of the NACWAA Volleyball Classic

NACWAA continued to be committed to recognizing the achievements and successes of administrators working in athletics. Click here to view all NACWAA/ Women Leaders in College Sports award winners.

Cary Groth is the current and founding principal of The PICTOR Group, an intercollegiate athletics consulting firm. She is one of three women that has served as an athletic director at two FBS institutions: Northern Illinois University from 1994 to 2004 and the University of Nevada from 2004 until her retirement in 2013.

Known for her commitment towards equity and diversity, Cary was one of five athletic directors that served on President Bush’s Department of Education’s Commission on Opportunity in Athletics to enforce Title IX guidelines.

Cary was inducted into her alma mater’s Hall of Fame as an athlete, coach, and administrator at Northern Illinois University. She has been recognized for her leadership and community service by the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association, Women Leaders in College Sports, Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada, and the Nevada Women’s Fund. Cary is active as a board member of the Truckee Meadows Community College Foundation and the International Women’s Forum.

In 1995, 31,000 leaders from 189 nations across the world gathered in Beijing where they adopted the most thorough action platform on women’s rights and gender equality ever produced. Although this platform is not a legally binded document, it serves as a guide for the U.N. governments and nongovernmental organizations by recognizing women’s rights as human rights.

This action plan remains a cornerstone of the global women’s movement that has since changed the lives of millions of women and girls around the world.

Additional news in 1995:

Chelsi Smith was the first African American to be crowned Miss USA and Miss Universe.