Erica Wheeler the keynote speaker at Scholar-Athlete Society ceremony
LEWISTON, Maine — Former U.S. Olympic javelin thrower and 2008 United States Scholar-Athlete Games Commissioner Erica Wheeler will deliver the keynote address at the fourth annual Bates College Scholar-Athlete Society ceremony and be inducted as an honorary member. The ceremony takes place in Alumni Gymnasium on Saturday, May 24, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
The Bates Scholar-Athlete Society was created in 2005 to underscore the college’s commitment to the scholar-athlete ideal. The society includes seniors, nominated by their coaches, who have compiled a 3.5 grade point average or received a special nomination from faculty and staff for distinguished academic achievement in their junior and senior years. To be eligible for induction, student-athletes must participate in a varsity sport for at least three years.
The 31 Class of 2008 inductees to the Bates Scholar-Athlete Society include Danilo Acosta and Elizabeth J. Murphy, the recipients of the 32nd Lindholm Scholar-Athlete awards as the male and female varsity letter-winning athletes with the highest cumulative grade point averages. The Class of 2008 also includes Anne L. Barton, Timothy J. Casey, Erin C. Chandler, Brittany K. Clement, Kara J. Constantine, Emmanuel F. Drabo, Dylan E. Eberle, Allison M. Emery, Laura L. Golitko, Simon B. Griesbach, Katherine A. Harmsworth-Morrissey, Erik R. Hood, Jennifer F. Imrich, Eugene Kim, Cassandra K. Kirkland, Stamatia O. Kostakis, Caroline A. Lemoine, W. Harrison Little, John T. Miley, Katherine A. Nickerson, Kelsey C. Omstead, Michelle L. Parent, Daniel S. Perry, David J. Philbrook, John W. Reuter, Amy E. Rosania, Aaron M. Schleicher, Emilie A. Swenson and Ross D. Van Horn.
In addition to honoring graduating students, the society also annually inducts alumni who distinguish themselves as scholars and athletes in their professional careers, as well as a faculty member or coach who has fostered the scholar-athlete ideal.
This year’s alumni inductees into the Bates Scholar-Athlete Society include: Carolyn Campbell-McGovern ’83, a former All-America women’s lacrosse player and field hockey player at Bates and now the Senior Associate Director of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents, responsible for all athletic compliance efforts in the Ivy League; John S. Amols ’72, a former basketball and soccer player at Bates, and later a basketball and tennis coach at Bates, who co-founded the Glenwood Development Company in North Carolina, a real estate development, management and investment firm that today owns and manages several dozen commercial retail properties in six states; Anne Cole Brown ’88 M.D., a former Bates record holder in the long jump and triple jump who still owns a part of the school record in the 4×100 relay, who now practices internal medicine at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Lewiston; and Robert A. “Sandy” Pool ’70, who played soccer at Bates under legendary coach George Wigton before serving as a Senior Attorney for the U.S. General Accounting Office, and is recently retired as legal counsel to the California Institute of Technology.
The faculty member inductee will be Michael J. Retelle, Professor of Geology and currently the College’s Faculty Athletic Representative to the NCAA.
Wheeler is a 1990 graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in psychology. Erica received a full athletic scholarship to Stanford to throw the javelin, was a four-time All-American, and the Stanford record holder with a distance of 192’2”. Wheeler retired from elite level competition in 2004 after 24 competitive years, during which she made the 1996 Olympic Team in Atlanta and the 1997 World Championship Team in Athens, as well as 10 other international teams. Wheeler owns the fifth longest throw ever by an American woman with a distance of 206 feet.
Wheeler completed her MS from Smith College in 2006 in Exercise and Sport Studies, and presently serves in her sixth year as a Member of the USA Track and Field Board of Directors as an athlete representative. Erica also serves as Commissioner of the 2008 United States Scholar-Athlete Games and the Chief of Staff at the Institute for International Sport.