Lancers select White to become school’s new Athletic Director with Havey set to retire

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Stephanie White does not shy about the fact that she likes to win. At the same time, White does not want that to come at the expense of the overall experience for a student-athlete.

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That is the mindset White will bring to the University of Windsor, which announced on Tuesday that she will become the Lancers’ new Athletic Director. White will replace Mike Havey, who is retiring, and will assume his new role at the school on May 30.

“Winning is important,” said White, who spent the past two years as Director of Sport at Western University in London. “I like to win, I want to win, but the student experience and academics have to be taken care of.”

White becomes the first woman to hold the title with the Lancers since Joanne MacLean, who spent six years as Athletic Director at Windsor around the turn of the century after 11 seasons as head coach of the women’s basketball team.

“I was aware Mike was retiring in our circles and I kept an eye out for the position to be posted,” White said. “My partner is from Windsor, so I have a great affinity for the City of Windsor.

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“I’ve spent a lot of time in Windsor over the last 13 years and I was in Windsor on the weekend. I have a familiarity with the City of Windsor It felt a little like coming home for me to join the University of Windsor and Lancers.”

While not revealing the number of applicants, Linda Rohr, who is Dean of the Faculty of Human Kinetics, said the search to find Havey’s replacement began in November and drew considerable interest.

The selection committee, which featured Rohr, three full-time coaches, a student representative and a member of human resources, was impressed by White.

“There was unanimous enthusiasm from the entire hiring committee,” Rohr said. “We’re excited to have her on board.”

White has a long history with university athletics. She was the Associate Athletic Director at Ryerson University in Toronto for five years before moving on to become Director of High-performance Sport, Recreation and Physical Literacy at Vancouver Island University.

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A Toronto native, White downplays her own achievement as a hockey player, but has an extensive background coaching women’s hockey and has represented the country on several occasions with Hockey Canada.

“I’ve been with Hockey Canada and the only result you go for is gold,” White said. “That fits with shaping the person I am. I want our programs to be successful and for everyone to be proud of and want to be a part of as well something that not just the institution can rally around, but the city can get excited about.”

The transition to the post in Windsor should not be a major challenge for White, who has been overseeing Western’s 46 sports programs over the past two years and overseeing the development, implementation and monitoring of activities aimed at enhancing the student-athlete’s academic and athletic experience. .

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“What I’ve been doing at Western isn’t too dissimilar to what I will be doing at Windsor,” White said.

White currently sits on the OUA women in sport committee, the U Sports Sport Technical Sup-Committee women’s hockey committee while also serving as the chair on Hockey Canada’s female policy committee and member of the BC Hockey board of directors. She is anxious to get to Windsor next month and get to work.

“I’ve met a few of the coaches,” White said. “There are exciting coaches that I’m excited to sit down and work with and I know there’s a lot of pride on this campus.”

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