PROVIDENCE, RI – Dr. Christine Copper, Professor of Chemistry and the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) at the United States Naval Academy, has been appointed to the Knight Commission. The announcement was made by Knight Commission on Intercollegiate co-chairs Carol Cartwright and Arne Duncan
Dr. Copper is one of three new appointees to the Commission as she will be joined by former Georgia women’s basketball player Shanteona Keys and Peter Roby, director of athletics at Northeastern University.
“This is a tremendous honor for Christine and I know that she will do an outstanding job in this very important role,” American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco said. “She is well-respected at her institution and nationally and is a terrific addition to the Knight Commission. Christine has served with distinction as a member of the American Athletic Conference’s FAR group and as our FAR representative to our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and she will bring great insight, experience and judgment to the deliberations of the Knight Commission.”
Dr. Copper is the FAR representative on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and the Division I National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She co-chaired the NCAA working group on Values-Based Revenue Distribution that brought historic change to the NCAA’s financial distribution model by including academic incentives for the first time ever. Dr. Copper also
served as the FAR representative for The American SAAC group and currently chairs the Patriot League Policy Committee. She has been on the faculty of the Naval Academy since 1995 and was a three-time All-American collegiate tennis player and a member of two national championship teams at the University of Mary Washington.
THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
The American Athletic Conference (The American), a member of the NCAA, was reconstituted in 2013. With the conference office in Providence, Rhode Island, The American is comprised of the following institutions: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Navy (in football only), USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa. Wichita State (basketball and Olympic sports) joined the Conference on July 1, 2017. Under the leadership of Commissioner Mike Aresco, The American sponsors 21 championships – 10 for men and 11 for women; is a member of the College Football Playoff; began new television partnerships with ESPN and CBS Sports in 2014; and has a marketing partnership with IMG College. For more information, please visit
www.TheAmerican.org.
THE KNIGHT COMMISSION 0N INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS
The Knight Commission was formed by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in October 1989 to promote reforms that support and strengthen the educational mission of college sports. Over the years, the NCAA has adopted a number of the Commission’s recommendations, including the rule that requires teams to be on track to graduate at least 50 percent of their players to be eligible for postseason competition. The Commission’s Athletic and Academic Spending Database provides financial data for more than 220 public Division I institutions, creating greater financial transparency on athletics spending.