The Student Athlete Advisory Committee was created on the Amherst College Campus in the Fall of 2006, and is now fully functional and running. The members of the SAAC have been divided into Four Committees - Publicity and Spirit, Sportsmanship, Community Services and Community Relations. These committees should provide the structure and groundwork for the SAAC to accomplish a great deal in the future, and help to address the concerns of our student-athletes at Amherst, and how we can enhance the lives and values of the student-athletes on and off campus. Future committees will be formed to address pressing issues that arise, and members of the SAAC will be involved with other committees throughout campus.
Publicity and Spirit (Drew Blacker'09, Chair and Erik Nedeau, Advisor)
This committee will address ways in which to get the SAAC and its initiatives public; look at ways to increase visibility, awareness and support for the student-athletes in all sports; build / maintain a web site for the committee.
Members: Drew Blacker, Steve Stewart, Sam Grausz, Jesse Tyma, Matt Herman, Lauren Benson, Laura Mortimer, Whitney Kouvaris, Daniel Gonzalez
Sportsmanship (Sarah Johnston'09 & Angus Schaller'09, Co-chairs and Chris Paradis, Advisor)
This committee will address the issues dealing with Sportsmanship at both home and away contests; help to implement and adopt the DIII Fan Sportsmanship program; look for ways to increase positive fan behavior and support; increasing fan support for all sports.
Members: Sarah Johnston, Angus Schaller, Erin Morrison, Jillian Whiting, Nate Hopkin, Kinne Schwartz, Rob Grammar, TJ Jackson, Hannah Merves
Community Service (Mike Harbus'08 & Heather Wilson'08, Co-chairs and Sarah Harper, Advisor)
This committee will address ways in which the student-athletes, athletic department and the respective teams can be more visible within our community; increase awareness of service opportunities; assist outside organizations through support and participation; enhance the lives of others within our community and look for ways in which we can volunteer our time and energy.
Members: Mike Harbus, Heather Wilson, Kyle Schoppel, Catherine Calvert, Kate Dennett, Mike Taylor, Tracy Montgomery
Community Relations (Gudrun Juffer'08 & Kelly King'08, Co-chairs and Tom Carmean, Advisor)
This committee will address issues dealing with communication between student-athletes and faculty; ways to improve interaction between student-athletes and others on campus; having members of SAAC on various campus committees where the issue of athletics would be in question.
Members: Gudrun Juffer, Kelly King, Mark Crane, Suzanne Bradley, Laura Stein, Judd Olanoff, Steve Shashy, Alec Goldfield, Christian Witzke, Adolphe Coulibaly