Annie Jenkins Named to GNAC Staff on Division III Ethnic Minority and Women's Grant

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Former Endicott Sports Information Graduate
Assistant appointed through Division III Grant

WINTHROP, Mass. – Annie Jenkins has been appointed to the position of Assistant to the Commissioner at the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), as announced by GNAC Commissioner Joe Walsh on Thursday afternoon.

Her hiring is supported through the NCAA Division III Ethnic Minority and Women’s Grant, a program that provides funding for entry-level administrative positions at NCAA Division III schools and conference offices.

Jenkins, who will begin her duties with the league office beginning in August, received her Master of Education degree in Athletic Administration (Collegiate Level) in May 2017 from Endicott College, where the 2017 Endicott “Woman of Impact” honoree spent the past two years as the Gulls’ Sports Information Graduate Assistant.

Jenkins, a CoSIDA 2016 Fred Stabley Sr. District 1 Writing Contest “Story with Video” winner, served as the primary media relations contact for six of Endicott’s 21 varsity teams by assisting with statistical coverage, social media, and multimedia content creation to expand the College’s global reach.

Prior to her time at Endicott, Jenkins graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Journalism and a minor in Political Science from Emerson College in May 2015, where she was a softball student-athlete from 2011-15. The Woodland, Calif. native was a four-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-America Scholar-Athlete, earning three Academic All-Conference nods and six Dean’s List selections. She was also the Lions' senior captain for a team that earned the nation’s top softball team grade-point average all four years she was on the squad.

“Annie's time at the Division III level, both as a student-athlete and graduate assistant, makes her a great fit with the Great Northeast Athletic Conference," said Commissioner Walsh. "We are thrilled to have her joining the staff for the 2017-18 academic year, and also excited that she will be attending the CoSIDA Convention in Orlando as she gains valuable professional development experience." 

In her new role, Jenkins will be responsible for special projects and initiatives under Commissioner Walsh. Jenkins’ duties will also include coordinating the GNAC’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) efforts, managing day-to-day operations with social media, compliance and governance, community involvement, event management at conference championships, historical research, and strategic planning, as well as overseeing the recruitment of new sport officials. She will also assist GNAC Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations Michael Ghika with athletics communications tasks.

True to the Division III philosophy of providing a well-rounded collegiate experience that involves a balance of rigorous academics, competitive athletics, and the opportunity to pursue the multitude of other co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities offered on Division III campuses, Jenkins balanced her time commitment as a student-athlete with a number of professional development endeavors.

As the president of Emerson’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) board for two years, the 2012 GNAC Sportsmanship Award recipient also held a work-study job in the athletic department all four years to generate accurate statistics as part of her sports information staff gameday coverage.

Additionally, she spent her Friday nights working at the Boston Globe’s high school sports desk as a sports correspondent and volunteered as a broadcast and weekly web writer for Emerson’s Independent Video (EIV) News at 6:00. With these experiences, Jenkins was granted the opportunity to intern in media relations with the Golden State Collegiate Baseball League (GSCBL) in Northern California the summer before landing a Fall 2014 semester-long studio production internship at New England Sports Network (NESN).

The 2016-18 grant cycle marks the fourth time since 2007 the GNAC has applied for and received funding for this particular grant. Past interns include Vaughn Calhoun, Ed.D., who is currently the director of the business program at Becker College, as well as three current Division III conference assistant commissioners in Jessica Huntley (Centennial Conference), Doug Chin (Commonwealth Coast Conference) and Rebecca Mullen (New England Collegiate Conference). Meanwhile, 2016-17 GNAC intern Rachel Wyman is set to attend the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies this fall to pursue her Master's of Sports Industry Management.

For more on the GNAC's success with the Division III Ethnic Minority and Women's Grant, please click HERE. 

Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 12 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 17 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement. 

– #TheGNAC –