Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act
Federal regulations require that the following information, based on the previous reporting year, be available for inspection by students, prospective students, and the public by October 15 of each year.
An institution is encouraged to provide any further information it believes might be helpful to students, prospective students or the public to interpret the information provided above, or that might help a prospective student-athlete make an informed choice of an athletics program. For example, an institution may include a history of its athletic programs, or explanation of unusual or exceptional circumstances that would better explain the data or their significance.
On-The-Field Success
As a result of budget increases and other continued improvements, women's varsity sports at Notre Dame have been extremely successful and have received extensive national recognition. During a nine-year stretch, Notre Dame women's teams combined to win three national titles: in soccer (1995), basketball (2001) and fencing (in the combined NCAA championship with the Irish men's team) - and from the span of 1995-2003, Notre Dame was one of only four schools in all of Division I to win national championships in three different women's sports. During 2003-04, the University finished 19 th in the NACDA Directors' Cup standings and won BIG EAST Conference regular season/post-season championships in 12 different sports (out of a possible 22, as Notre Dame football, fencing, hockey and men's lacrosse do not compete in the BIG EAST). Seven Irish women's teams claimed BIG EAST regular season and/or tournament titles in 2003-04: cross country, golf, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and volleyball. Impressively, four Irish women's teams, cross country, fencing, lacrosse, and soccer were ranked in the top five nationally during their 2003-04 seasons. When looking at women's sports results in the 2003-04 Director's Cup Standings, Notre Dame ranked 11th among Division I schools. That standing would improve to fifth if you compare only the 13 women's sports sponsored by Notre Dame - behind UCLA, Stanford, Michigan, and California.
The Irish also won its 8 th straight Big East Commissioner's trophy for women's athletics. In addition, all 13 of Notre Dame's women's varsity teams participated in NCAA post-season competition (during the 2003-04 season). An unprecedented six Notre Dame coaches of women's teams were honored as BIG EAST coaches of the year in 2003-04: Debbie Brown (women's volleyball), Tim Connelly (women's cross country), Randy Waldrum (women's soccer), Caiming Xie (women's diving), Tracy Coyne (women's lacrosse), Deanna Gumpf (women's softball), Martin Stone (women's rowing).
The athletic success of Notre Dame female athletes extends beyond their experience at Notre Dame. The 2004 Olympic Games had a distinctive Fighting Irish flair, as 10 individuals with connections to Notre Dame participated in Athens. Most notable were four gold medalists - women's sabre Mariel Zagunis (an entering Notre Dame freshman in '04), soccer players Kate Sobrero Markgraf ('98 Notre Dame graduate) and Shannon Boxx ('95 Notre Dame NCAA Championship team), and basketball player Ruth Riley ('01 Notre Dame graduate and member of '01 Notre Dame NCAA Championship team). Other women with Irish connections competing in Athens were Monica Gonzalez ('00 Notre Dame graduate) for the Mexican soccer team, Christel Bouvron (a swimmer on the Singapore team and the first active Notre Dame student-athlete to compete in Olympics since 1924), Peta Gaye Dowdie (she has worked on a volunteer basis with Notre Dame's sprinters during the past two years and went to Athens as a member of Jamaica's 4x100 relay pool). Several former Notre Dame student-athletes have pursued professional careers in athletics playing in the WNBA (basketball), USPV (volleyball) and the former WUSA (soccer), while numerous others have entered into coaching careers on the professional and collegiate levels.
Academic Success
Poised to become the premier center for Catholic intellectual life, the University of Notre Dame is a community of students and teachers dedicated to making the world a better place. As a Catholic university, Notre Dame espouses Christian values and principles that include the development not only of the intellect and the spirit but also the body. Throughout its long and proud history, the University of Notre Dame has embraced the philosophy that a well-rounded athletics program - including club, intramural and intercollegiate competition - comprises an integral part of its educational mission. This philosophy reflects the pursuit of excellence in intercollegiate athletics within the framework of an academic community committed to the University's educational and religious objectives.
The commitment to these objectives is evident in the impressive statistics and honors awarded by the NCAA to the University of Notre Dame for the academic success of student-athletes. The NCAA began issuing academic data for student-athletes in 1992. In each of those 13 reports, Notre Dame has ranked among the top eight schools in all five categories that are tracked (all student-athletes, male student-athletes, female student athletes, African-American student athletes, and football players). In 2003 NCAA graduation rate figures evaluating all student-athletes who enrolled between 1993 and 1996, Notre Dame had the highest graduation rate during the relevant time period (92% for all student-athletes entering in 1996) among all Division I-A universities and Notre Dame tied for second among female student athletes (92%). In addition, the statistics issued by the NCAA indicate that the graduation rate for female student-athletes at Notre Dame who entered in 1996 and who received athletic financial aid is 94% (compared to the nationwide figure of 70% for female student-athletes during that same time period). Notre Dame compiled the nation's highest overall graduation rate for Division I-A student-athletes to take top honors in the 2003 USA Today/NCAA Academic Achievement Awards. Notre Dame won the award for the category of "institutions graduating the highest percentage of student-athletes."
Graduation rates are not the only indication of academic success for student-athletes at Notre Dame. The overall grade point average for the '04 spring semester for all student athletes was 3.192. An impressive 39% of student athletes had a grade point average of 3.40 or higher. Three teams - women's fencing (3.528), women's golf (3.498) and women's tennis (3.552) - had 2004 spring semester averages above 3.400. In addition, Notre Dame ranks second in the most Academic All-Americans with 146 entering the 2003-2004 school year. The University has further committed itself to the goal of providing a top quality education by constructing the new, state-of-the-art Coleman-Morse building which houses the Academic Services for Student-Athletes Office. This continued emphasis on education provides the University of Notre Dame with the unmatched distinction of success of student-athletes in academics and on the field.
Funding
In 1987, the Notre Dame athletic department conducted an extensive assessment of funding available for its Olympic sports program. Since that initial review, every sport has been examined annually to help determine coaching needs, operating budget, travel and scholarships, facilities, support services, promotions, and scheduling. Significant increases in resources for the Olympic sports programs have been developed through budget adjustments, endowment funds, outside contributions, and a major marketing effort. Of particular note are the budgetary increases in the women's programs. In 1986-87 the total operating budget for women's athletics was $880,820.50; in 2003-2004, that amount reached $8.5 million, an increase of more than 866 percent during that 17-year span. The budgetary outlay for Notre Dame women's sports also has included a significant four-year jump from 1999-2000 ($5.83 million) to 2003-04 ($8.5 million), an increase of $2.67 million and nearly 46 percent during that four-year span.
Participation and Financial Aid
The dramatic increase in the number of varsity sport offerings for women attempts to parallel the increase in the size of the undergraduate female population. In 1978, only 23 percent of the undergraduate population was female. That female ratio grew to 28 percent in 1982 and then to 33 percent in 1987. Five years later, 38 percent of the undergraduate population was female (in 1992), and the athletic department continued to chase a moving target. In October 2003, the undergraduate population was 46.7percent female. From 1988 to 2004, the percentage of total budgeted grants-in-aid awarded to women increased from 19.0 percent of total grands-in-aid to nearly 42% percent of total grants-in aid. Together with fulfilling its commitment to add two new women's programs (lacrosse in 1996 and rowing in 1998), Notre Dame completed a five-year plan in 2000 that resulted in the addition of 22 scholarships to new and existing women's programs. Additionally, under the leadership of athletics director Kevin White, the athletic department is close to completing a four-year plan to provide all 26 varsity sports with the maximum number of scholarships permitted under NCAA regulations. The plan is entering its fourth and final year in 2004-05. Among other goals, this plan ultimately will add 35.5 additional scholarships to Notre Dame women's varsity programs.
The University would like to provide additional information concerning Table 6 (Athletically Related Student Aid). First, the athletic student aid detailed in Table 6 includes funding provided for athletes to attend summer school. Athletes are recommended for summer school by their coaches or by the Academic Services for Student-Athletes Office at Notre Dame. Once enrolled in summer school, the amount of aid granted to a student-athlete is proportionate to the amount of aid the student received during the prior academic year. Therefore, sports that predominantly award full scholarships realize a proportionately higher amount of summer school aid for their athletes. Second, although women's basketball has been fully funded by the University for several years, the number of scholarships actually awarded is at the coach's discretion. For example, during 2002-03, women's basketball used 11 of the 15 full scholarships allotted to the program.
Facilities
The University of Notre Dame boasts some of the nation's best athletic facilities for its varsity teams. The past two decades have seen Notre Dame athletics experience a tremendous growth, both in terms of number of programs and number of facilities. The 1970's saw the addition of women's athletics and at the same time, several men's programs gained varsity status.
Notre Dame currently sponsors 26 varsity sports, all of which have earned or are on their way to national prominence. Along with the growth has come a vast expansion of the University's facilities for its intercollegiate athletic teams.
While Notre Dame's facilities are among the best in the nation, plans to improve athletic facilities in the years to come are under consideration. During 2002-03, the athletic department's master plan for upgrading, renovating, and adding new facilities was presented to the University's administration to incorporate into its overall master plan that is being developed for the University's future. Included in the athletic plans are improvements that will enhance the facilities available for all 26 varsity sports over a 10-year span. This master plan has been incorporated into the University's next development campaign.
As a result of the NCAA Certification Self-Study conducted in 1996, the University spent $2,000,000 on the construction of new office space to ensure that equitable facilities have been provided for each of our men's and women's coaching staffs. Seven of our women's teams (basketball, cross-country/track, lacrosse, rowing, softball, soccer, and volleyball) have benefitted from this expenditure. With regard to playing facilities, the softball field was converted to a stadium facility and the outdoor tennis facility was upgraded to host the 1998 NCAA women's championship. During the past few years, the women's basketball team moved into a new office complex and a new locker room and team lounge. The latest addition to the University's facilities is the Warren Golf Course, which will serve as the home course for both the University's men's and women's golf teams. Also, the locker room of the women's lacrosse team was fully renovated. Finally, construction of the 21.24 million Don F. and Flora Guglielmino Family Athletic Center (The "Gug") is well underway. This facility will boast almost 100,000 square feet of dedicated athletic space, to include locker rooms, offices and meeting rooms, as well as space for athletic training, strength and conditioning and equipment operations.
History
Notre Dame opened its doors to female students in 1972 and from that time has demonstrated a commitment to creating well-supported opportunities for female student-athletes. Beginning that year with the addition of fencing as the University's first women's varsity sport, fourteen women's sports have attained varsity status (with one dropped) during that 32-year span. Field hockey was dropped in 1988 due to dwindling student interest, lack of regional competition, and scheduling problems. Fencing and tennis were the first women's sports to gain official varsity status, beginning in the 1976-77 academic year. The two most recent additions to women's sports, lacrosse and rowing, gained their respective varsity status in 1996 and 1998. These additions bring the number of women's sports to 13, matching the number of offerings for men.
In 1998, the University created a Gender Equity Task Force to evaluate and make recommendations concerning, among other things, participation opportunities and financial aid for female athletes at Notre Dame. This Task Force continues to play a vital role in reviewing Notre Dame's programs on a regular basis, and making recommendations when appropriate. During the last two years, the task force spent considerable time and effort reviewing "other program areas" and submitting recommendations in tandem with the NCAA Certification review.
See Also ... 2006 EADA Tables (PDF - 128K)