July 2, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – University of Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White will deliver the commencement speech and receive an honorary doctorate degree July 20 at the annual United States Sports Academy graduation ceremony on its campus in Daphne, Ala.
White is completing his seventh year at Notre Dame. His career as an athletic director at the collegiate level spans nearly 25 years. White is the first Notre Dame athletics director to report directly to the university president. White began his career as athletics director at Loras College and Maine before becoming the athletics director at Tulane University for five years (1991-1996). In 2005, White was part of a group of 15 Notre Dame student-athletes and five administrators that traveled by bus from South Bend to New Orleans to help with repairs after Hurricane Katrina.
White has mentored an impressive list of senior-level athletic administrators who have become directors of athletics, including Jim Sterk of Washington State, Tom Boeh of Fresno State, Ian McCaw of Baylor, Bruce Van De Velde of Iowa State, Herman Frazier of Hawaii, and Sandy Barbour of California, among many others.
With a Ph.D. in education, White has taught graduate-level classes since 1982-83. White is currently an associate professor in the management department of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business MBA program. Past recipients of the Academy honorary doctorate include Kofi Annan (Secretary General of the United Nations), His Royal Highness Salman bi Hamad Al-Khalifa (the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain), International Olympic Committee President Dr. Jacques Rogge and media mogul Ted Turner.
The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and the world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.