Launching the Athletic Director Search

April 8, 2013

Members of the Rutgers Community:

We are moving forward with the search for a new Director of Intercollegiate Athletics for the Rutgers-New Brunswick Campus. 

The search committee will be co-chaired by former Rutgers student athlete Kate Sweeney and executive vice president and interim chancellor Richard L. Edwards.  Ms. Sweeney, a member of the Class of 1979, is a senior vice president and financial advisor at Morgan Stanley in New Brunswick.  A former captain of the Rutgers women’s basketball and lacrosse teams, she serves on the Executive Committee of the President’s Council of the Rutgers University Foundation and is co-founder of the RU Bi-GLATA alumni chartered organization.

In addition to Ms. Sweeney and Dr. Edwards, the committee will have broad representation from the Rutgers-New Brunswick community, including faculty and students as well as former Scarlet Knights student athletes.

As we launch the search, I am announcing today the appointment of Professor Carl Kirschner as interim athletic director, effective immediately.  He will be assisted by senior associate athletic director Doug Fillis and chief financial officer for athletics Janine Purcaro, who have my full support.  Dr. Kirschner, a longtime member of the Rutgers faculty, currently serves as special counsel for academic programs in the office of the executive vice president for academic affairs and is the former dean of Rutgers College.  He has a keen knowledge of athletics at Rutgers from his long service as chair of the Academic Oversight Committee for Intercollegiate Athletics, which reviews the applications of prospective Rutgers student athletes and monitors the academic progress of those who are admitted and enroll. 

We hope to have a permanent Director of Intercollegiate Athletics in place quickly, and we will rely on him or her to provide long-term leadership for the division.

Sincerely,

Robert L. Barchi
President