JERSEY CITY, NJ…The New Jersey City University athletic department is sponsoring a workshop on sportsmanship and self-perception on Thursday, February 12 at 7 p.m. at NJCU’s John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center. The featured speaker for the event is Chuck Mitrano, the Commissioner of the Empire 8 Conference, who was named one of the “100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America” by the Institute of International Sport (IIS) in November of 2007.
The event, which all NJCU student-athletes will attend, is also open to the public. The workshop will discuss how we perceive ourselves and conversely, how others perceive us.
Mitrano, Commissioner of the Empire 8 since 2001, is considered a national expert on sportsmanship and ethical behavior. He serves on the NCAA's association-wide Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct (CSEC). Mitrano founded and led an initiative to create a Division III Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee, which focuses specifically on the issues facing the members of the NCAA's largest division. Mitrano was appointed chair of the committee, which is sponsored by the Division III Commissioner's Association.
He was named the 2008 Eastern College Athletic Conference Jostens Male Administrator of the Year, the first time a commissioner in any division has earned the honor.
Under his leadership Empire 8 was also named an “All-American Sportsmanship Conference” by the IIS which was formally celebrated on National Sportsmanship Day on March 4, 2008. It marked the first time an athletic conference in any division or level has ever received this prestigious honor. He successfully lobbied the NCAA and its association-wide membership to host a ground-breaking Hazing Prevention Summit at the 2008 Convention in Nashville, TN.
Mitrano conducted research on fan conduct and game management policies in Division III in an effort to create a set of best practices for institutions to consider for their use. He has spoken and presented at many functions in recent years, including the national conventions for the NCAA, National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics annual convention, the Association of College Administrative Professionals and ECAC. He has also presented and moderated discussions at the NCAA Leadership Conferences in Texas and New Jersey and speaks regularly to New York State High School coaches, administrators and student-athletes.
Among his most notable accomplishments as Empire 8 Commissioner came in 2003, when he applied for and received a grant from the NCAA to track what he coined "conduct fouls" in nine Division III sports (men's and women's soccer, ice hockey, basketball, lacrosse and football). The effort is the only known mechanism in the country that provides tangible data relative to sporting behavior on the field of play. The initiative received high praise from many educators and student-athletes across the country and has been featured in the USA Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The NCAA News, Referee Magazine, Athletics Administration Magazine, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and many other daily and weekly newspapers. The program has been adopted by Division III (more than 430 institutions and 41 conferences) as part of its strategic plan.
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