LANCASTER, Pa. - The Centennial Conference has announced the hiring of Amber Thomas to the newly-created position of Coordinator of Sports Administration and Championships.
"Amber distinguished herself from a highly competitive pool of candidates," said Centennial Conference Executive Director Portia Hoeg. "Her experience at Division III, as well as background in diversity and inclusion, SAAC, and sports information made her an ideal candidate for our new position. We are thrilled to welcome Amber to the Centennial Conference family as I know she will be a great contributor to the growth of our conference."
Thomas joins the Centennial after spending the past three years at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, where she served in a variety of capacities including Assistant Director of Sports Information, Diversity and Inclusion Program Assistant, and Co-Advisor of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). As Assistant Director of Sports Information, she helped manage communications and event management efforts surrounding Hiram's 18 varsity sports including maintaining the athletics website and social media accounts, managing statistics, design of graphics and game programs, writing press releases, and the supervision and training of more than 50 student workers.
As Diversity and Inclusion Program Assistant, Thomas gained experience in student programming and community outreach. She supervised 25 students in a peer-mentoring program that developed workshops centered around the topics of student success and career development. Thomas designed and implemented training and program assessment instruments and monitored the academic progress of first-year students. In her role as Co-Advisor of SAAC, she served as a liaison between the administration and athletics teams, helped student-athletes develop community service initiatives, and oversaw mental health education for the entire athletic department.
“I am so excited to begin my journey at the Centennial Conference," said Thomas. "It is a thrill to join an amazing organization and I look forward to being part of the continued success of the conference. I want to thank Executive Director Portia Hoeg, Assistant Executive Director Tim Mowrer, and the entire search committee for this opportunity.”
Thomas' duties with the Centennial will include assisting in all aspects of conference operations with an emphasis on communications, social media, brand and identity development utiizing the conference's website, awards and special events, assisting with the running of the 24 conference championships, and general administration. She will begin her appointment on August 17.
Thomas is a 2017 graduate of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations and worked as the marketing and communications intern in the sports information office. She earned her Master of Arts degree from Hiram College in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in leadership and education in May 2020.
The Coordinator of Sports Administration and Championships is partially funded by the NCAA Division III Strategic Alliance Matching Grant.
"We are pleased to be a recipient of the NCAA Strategic Alliance Matching Grant," said Hoeg. "Over the past few years, the Centennial Conference has provided tremendous opportunities and career paths for the three women serving in the NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women's Internship grant program. This grant will allow us to enhance our office staff with a full-time person, while enabling us to provide an even greater level of service to our membership. In particular, as we head into a strategic planning process, our mission, vision and values will be even clearer as the Centennial Conference remains one of the premier Division III athletic conferences."
About the Centennial Conference
The purpose of the Centennial Conference is to provide for athletic competition among institutions that share high academic aspirations and are committed to the importance of the total educational experience for students engaged in sports. Its full-time members include Bryn Mawr, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Haverford, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, Swarthmore, Ursinus and Washington colleges, along with Johns Hopkins University.
The Conference was founded in 1981 as the Centennial Football Conference and began competition as an all-sports conference in the fall of 1993. The Conference crowns champions in 24 sports.
For more information on the Centennial Conference, please visit www.centennial.org or follow the Centennial on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.