From Papers to Team Practice: Smith Professors Support Student Athletes

For student athletes at Smith, engagement with faculty members is crucial to fostering a healthy balance between schoolwork and sports.

The faculty liaison program, implemented about five years ago by then-athletics director Lynn Oberbillig, matches faculty members to Smith sports teams to help provide that equilibrium.

The program was restarted recently with the help of the athletics committee, a group that works with the athletics department on policies and procedures, and on building links between faculty, staff and students.

“The liaison program is one way to integrate athletics and the rest of campus,” says chemistry professor Kate Queeney, who serves as committee chair and a liaison to Smith’s basketball team.

Members of Smith’s field hockey team—who secured the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championship last season—are also fans of the liaison program, citing the support they received from one of their faculty liaisons, assistant physics professor Will Williams.

Williams has continued to support the team on the field and off, says goalkeeper Molly Peek ’18. “He talks to us about declaring majors and the importance of working with advisers,” she says. “He also comes to many of our games and practices.”

I really want students to know faculty members aren’t intimidating—or we aren’t supposed to be.

Peek fondly remembers one Halloween practice when Williams dressed up as a cowboy. “To keep up the persona, he hopped the fence to the field with a lasso in his hands,” she says, with a smile.

Williams views his role as faculty liaison as helping make professors more accessible to students. “When a professor goes to a game or practice, the power dynamic is completely flipped,” he says.

“I like to make myself look foolish so they feel more comfortable using me as an academic resource,” Williams adds. “I really want students to know faculty members aren’t intimidating—or we aren’t supposed to be.”

Professors support other sports teams at Smith, including basketball, softball, crew, equestrian and volleyball. Kristin Hughes, director of athletics, says the department’s goal is to eventually assign at least one faculty member to every team as the program grows.

Mandy Castro ’17, a guard for Smith’s basketball team, says the liaison program is one of the best resources available to student athletes. “Their encouragement often makes a world of difference in our performance” both on the court and in the classroom, she says.

Lydia DeAngelo ’19, a utility player on the softball team, says having faculty liaisons such as Michael Thurston, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English Language and Literature, and chemistry professor Kevin Shea, helped her adjust to college as a first-year student athlete.

“It’s reassuring to know that there is an automatic connection with the faculty at Smith,” DeAngelo says.

Students aren’t the only ones who benefit from the faculty liaison program. To show their gratitude for his continued support, the softball team attended Thurston’s chaired professor lecture last month as a group.

When he first signed up to be a faculty liaison, Thurston says he didn’t think he would get all that involved in the program.

“Instead—and this has been a very happy discovery—I have found myself part of a whole new community at Smith,” he says.

Thurston says the softball team has become “like my department or the students in an especially good class—a group within the college where I feel supported as well as supportive.

Queeney, the liaison to the basketball team, often takes her children with her to games. “My son in particular is a huge fan, and it has been really rewarding to see him grow up with athletic role models who are women,” she says.

To become a faculty liaison to a sports team at Smith, contact Queeney at kqueeney@smith.edu, or Hughes at khughes@smith.edu.

Katherine (Kat) Estes ’16 warms up for a field hockey home game last season while physics professor Will Williams, faculty liaison to the team, looks on.