By Zack Cziryak
Amanda DiDonato has made it her mission to provide assistance in the matriculation of Seton Hall University’s student athletes.
A member of the Hall’s Class of 2007 and a soccer alumna, DiDonato knew quickly that she wanted to get back into collegiate athletics in a support role after a six-month stint in human resources upon graduation. Having spent the last six years in her current position, associate director of academic support services for student athletes, DiDonato originally joined the athletic department as an academic advisor.
In her current role she serves as the advisor for Seton Hall’s men’s basketball, volleyball, softball and women’s golf programs serving as the student-athletes’ primary advisor in their first year in South Orange.
“It’s guiding students to the ultimate goal of graduation,” DiDonato said of the responsibilities of the position.
From an advisory standpoint, her responsibilities include scheduling classes, ensuring eligibility and making sure student-athletes are meeting their academic benchmarks in addition to scheduling tutoring and study hall sessions. And while she relinquishes the “title” of primary advisor to a student-athlete beyond their freshman year, her job doesn’t end there.
“What goes into this role is foreseeing the future, so to speak,” DiDonato said, noting the athletic demands student athletes must contend with in their journey. “We are kind of foreseeing them and helping them to be prepared for what’s coming down this pike.”
Those demands range from team practices, not including weightlifting, conditioning and individual work, as well as travel and official competition, DiDonato notes.
The support staff also works with professors to ensure that the student-athletes are doing the best that they can and provides “Blue Cards” as a notification that a class will be missed, DiDonato said, adding that the cards serve as a courtesy for professors to know a student-athlete will be missing class, but don’t serve as an “excused absence.” The staff also puts the onus on the student-athletes to retrieve these cards and provide them to the respective professor.
“These are hard-working and diligent students, so we do want to ensure that they’re being the best versions of themselves. That’s really important to us.”
DiDonato also noted that professors utilize an alert system that can be accessed by the athletic support staff to ensure an individual has the opportunity to access the help they need, whether it be specific tutoring or simply a conversation, or to acknowledge when a student is performing well.
While DiDonato notes that scheduling and gaining access to the necessary classes is not a major issue for student-athletes regardless of year, the athletes can be limited in certain regards by the benchmarks set forth by the NCAA, which requires student-athletes to declare a major while completing 40% of that major by the time they enter their fifth semester.
“It doesn’t really allow for a lot of major changes,” she said. “Meaning that if a student wants to go from business to nursing, or from science to business, that’s going to be tough for them, because they will not have met those benchmarks. I would say that’s only when it gets tricky or when it gets tough, but we make it work. We do the best that we can with what we have and we counsel the student through that; trying to see what we can do to make sure the student gets the degree they want from Seton Hall”
Travel can become an issue for the student-athlete, particularly during final exams, however DiDonato emphasized that the staff has worked out a number of ways to handle those issues ranging from advisors proctoring exams on the road to the students taking them either before or after road trips. In any case, communication is essential and a lesson the staff attempts to impress on their athletes.
“It has been a challenge before but we’ve always worked through it and worked with the faculty member,” DiDonato said. “The biggest and most important thing with our job as academic advisors has been communication… and we relay that to the students because we’re trying to teach them that in any job that they have they’re going to have to communicate any foreseeable problems.”
The system seems to be working for the staff in South Orange as Pirate student-athletes have increased their cumulative grade point average in each of the last seven consecutive years: rising from 3.174 in 2010-2011 to a record-high 3.376 in the recently completed 2016-2017 academic year.
For DiDonato and the rest of the support staff, which includes Director of Academic Support Services Matthew Geibel, Assistant Director of Academic Support Services Ryan Westman and the help of three graduate students, that success results from a variety of factors.
“First and foremost is the students,” DiDonato said. “They’re a wonderful group of student athletes that take their academics seriously because they realize one day, whatever their competitive arena, that ball will stop bouncing. And they realize the importance of academia.”
DiDonato also credits the aid of the Hall’s various coaching staffs for supporting the academic aspect of the “student athlete,” who regard advisors as an extension of their coaching staffs, and instill the importance of academics in both how they run their programs and the caliber of student they are recruiting.
“They should be proud that they’re recruiting top-notch student athletes that are doing well in the classroom,” she said. “Sometimes it’s not even necessarily that they’re getting the best and the brightest, it’s that they’re getting students that are disciplined, that are willing to work hard. We find that’s really important too.”
Support from the athletic administration has also been of incredible importance to the staff, spearheaded by Vice President and Director of Athletics & Recreational Services Pat Lyons upon his arrival in 2011.
“Pat’s core values that he’s brought on since he came here were first and foremost academic excellence. He’s promoted that, he’s supported our staff 110%,” DiDonato said. “Like with his coaches, he considers us academic coaches, ensuring that we all work together under this umbrella to support the student-athletes.”
One of Lyons’ chief contributions to the academic side of the student-athlete experience at Seton Hall was the 2013 opening of the Charles W. Doehler Academic Center for Excellence, a completely renovated space located in the Richie Regan Athletic Center that more than doubled the size of the previously dedicated academic support space for Seton Hall’s student athletes.
While DiDonato notes that the athletic achievements of Pirate student-athletes had been trending upward prior to the Doehler Center, the space has been a more than welcome resource in continuing that upward trend of academic success.
“It helps us. It’s a recruiting tool. It also gives our students the ability to have a more quiet space. Additionally, it provides them more space in general, that’s what they needed,” DiDonato said. “I found they were a little more confined in the one area, but now they don’t feel like they have to just go to the library. There’s a ton of space now provided to our students so I think that’s only helped them succeed.”
Despite a heavy focus on the academic side of the student-athlete equation, DiDonato emphasizes that her support is not limited to the classroom. She attends a majority of home events and travels with the men’s basketball team while attempting to travel once or twice per season with her other academic teams.
“I think it’s really important for them to realize that I’m supporting them in their athletic endeavors as well,” DiDonato notes.
The connection that DiDonato forms with her student-athletes is one that she believes lasts beyond Seton Hall’s campus gates, referencing the beginning of her own post-graduate relationships with student-athletes as well as the lasting relationships Geibel has formed in his 20+ years in his position in South Orange.
“I think it’s important to show the example and the relationships we have even after the students leave, when they realize the value of this office and why we’re here, what our goals are,” DiDonato said.
For Seton Hall alumni looking to support the endeavors, both athletic and academic, of Pirate student-athletes, donating to Pirate Blue is of course a welcome and great option, but it’s not the only way, DiDonato offers.
“Obviously the financial support is always helpful, but even when they [alumni] are going to these events, really speaking to the student-athletes, I think that networking is so important for our students and I always tell them that you never know who you may meet. Make that connection, reach out. Obviously getting them to step out of their comfort zone.”
At the end of the day, it’s DiDonato’s mission to help her student-athletes grow as people and make a place for themselves out in the real world, Seton Hall diploma in hand.
“ I’m passionate about working with our athletes because they are a special group,” she added. “They’re so tenacious and I realized that when I was a student here and I knew that was a group I wanted to work with because every day presents a new challenge. At the end of the day I know what we’re doing is helping these young men and women be the best versions of themselves, to put what they learned here at Seton Hall to it's best use as they enter the next phase of their lives upon graduation.”
A member of the Hall’s Class of 2007 and a soccer alumna, DiDonato knew quickly that she wanted to get back into collegiate athletics in a support role after a six-month stint in human resources upon graduation. Having spent the last six years in her current position, associate director of academic support services for student athletes, DiDonato originally joined the athletic department as an academic advisor.
In her current role she serves as the advisor for Seton Hall’s men’s basketball, volleyball, softball and women’s golf programs serving as the student-athletes’ primary advisor in their first year in South Orange.
“It’s guiding students to the ultimate goal of graduation,” DiDonato said of the responsibilities of the position.
From an advisory standpoint, her responsibilities include scheduling classes, ensuring eligibility and making sure student-athletes are meeting their academic benchmarks in addition to scheduling tutoring and study hall sessions. And while she relinquishes the “title” of primary advisor to a student-athlete beyond their freshman year, her job doesn’t end there.
“What goes into this role is foreseeing the future, so to speak,” DiDonato said, noting the athletic demands student athletes must contend with in their journey. “We are kind of foreseeing them and helping them to be prepared for what’s coming down this pike.”
Those demands range from team practices, not including weightlifting, conditioning and individual work, as well as travel and official competition, DiDonato notes.
The support staff also works with professors to ensure that the student-athletes are doing the best that they can and provides “Blue Cards” as a notification that a class will be missed, DiDonato said, adding that the cards serve as a courtesy for professors to know a student-athlete will be missing class, but don’t serve as an “excused absence.” The staff also puts the onus on the student-athletes to retrieve these cards and provide them to the respective professor.
“These are hard-working and diligent students, so we do want to ensure that they’re being the best versions of themselves. That’s really important to us.”
DiDonato also noted that professors utilize an alert system that can be accessed by the athletic support staff to ensure an individual has the opportunity to access the help they need, whether it be specific tutoring or simply a conversation, or to acknowledge when a student is performing well.
While DiDonato notes that scheduling and gaining access to the necessary classes is not a major issue for student-athletes regardless of year, the athletes can be limited in certain regards by the benchmarks set forth by the NCAA, which requires student-athletes to declare a major while completing 40% of that major by the time they enter their fifth semester.
“It doesn’t really allow for a lot of major changes,” she said. “Meaning that if a student wants to go from business to nursing, or from science to business, that’s going to be tough for them, because they will not have met those benchmarks. I would say that’s only when it gets tricky or when it gets tough, but we make it work. We do the best that we can with what we have and we counsel the student through that; trying to see what we can do to make sure the student gets the degree they want from Seton Hall”
Travel can become an issue for the student-athlete, particularly during final exams, however DiDonato emphasized that the staff has worked out a number of ways to handle those issues ranging from advisors proctoring exams on the road to the students taking them either before or after road trips. In any case, communication is essential and a lesson the staff attempts to impress on their athletes.
“It has been a challenge before but we’ve always worked through it and worked with the faculty member,” DiDonato said. “The biggest and most important thing with our job as academic advisors has been communication… and we relay that to the students because we’re trying to teach them that in any job that they have they’re going to have to communicate any foreseeable problems.”
The system seems to be working for the staff in South Orange as Pirate student-athletes have increased their cumulative grade point average in each of the last seven consecutive years: rising from 3.174 in 2010-2011 to a record-high 3.376 in the recently completed 2016-2017 academic year.
For DiDonato and the rest of the support staff, which includes Director of Academic Support Services Matthew Geibel, Assistant Director of Academic Support Services Ryan Westman and the help of three graduate students, that success results from a variety of factors.
“First and foremost is the students,” DiDonato said. “They’re a wonderful group of student athletes that take their academics seriously because they realize one day, whatever their competitive arena, that ball will stop bouncing. And they realize the importance of academia.”
DiDonato also credits the aid of the Hall’s various coaching staffs for supporting the academic aspect of the “student athlete,” who regard advisors as an extension of their coaching staffs, and instill the importance of academics in both how they run their programs and the caliber of student they are recruiting.
“They should be proud that they’re recruiting top-notch student athletes that are doing well in the classroom,” she said. “Sometimes it’s not even necessarily that they’re getting the best and the brightest, it’s that they’re getting students that are disciplined, that are willing to work hard. We find that’s really important too.”
Support from the athletic administration has also been of incredible importance to the staff, spearheaded by Vice President and Director of Athletics & Recreational Services Pat Lyons upon his arrival in 2011.
“Pat’s core values that he’s brought on since he came here were first and foremost academic excellence. He’s promoted that, he’s supported our staff 110%,” DiDonato said. “Like with his coaches, he considers us academic coaches, ensuring that we all work together under this umbrella to support the student-athletes.”
One of Lyons’ chief contributions to the academic side of the student-athlete experience at Seton Hall was the 2013 opening of the Charles W. Doehler Academic Center for Excellence, a completely renovated space located in the Richie Regan Athletic Center that more than doubled the size of the previously dedicated academic support space for Seton Hall’s student athletes.
While DiDonato notes that the athletic achievements of Pirate student-athletes had been trending upward prior to the Doehler Center, the space has been a more than welcome resource in continuing that upward trend of academic success.
“It helps us. It’s a recruiting tool. It also gives our students the ability to have a more quiet space. Additionally, it provides them more space in general, that’s what they needed,” DiDonato said. “I found they were a little more confined in the one area, but now they don’t feel like they have to just go to the library. There’s a ton of space now provided to our students so I think that’s only helped them succeed.”
Despite a heavy focus on the academic side of the student-athlete equation, DiDonato emphasizes that her support is not limited to the classroom. She attends a majority of home events and travels with the men’s basketball team while attempting to travel once or twice per season with her other academic teams.
“I think it’s really important for them to realize that I’m supporting them in their athletic endeavors as well,” DiDonato notes.
The connection that DiDonato forms with her student-athletes is one that she believes lasts beyond Seton Hall’s campus gates, referencing the beginning of her own post-graduate relationships with student-athletes as well as the lasting relationships Geibel has formed in his 20+ years in his position in South Orange.
“I think it’s important to show the example and the relationships we have even after the students leave, when they realize the value of this office and why we’re here, what our goals are,” DiDonato said.
For Seton Hall alumni looking to support the endeavors, both athletic and academic, of Pirate student-athletes, donating to Pirate Blue is of course a welcome and great option, but it’s not the only way, DiDonato offers.
“Obviously the financial support is always helpful, but even when they [alumni] are going to these events, really speaking to the student-athletes, I think that networking is so important for our students and I always tell them that you never know who you may meet. Make that connection, reach out. Obviously getting them to step out of their comfort zone.”
At the end of the day, it’s DiDonato’s mission to help her student-athletes grow as people and make a place for themselves out in the real world, Seton Hall diploma in hand.
“ I’m passionate about working with our athletes because they are a special group,” she added. “They’re so tenacious and I realized that when I was a student here and I knew that was a group I wanted to work with because every day presents a new challenge. At the end of the day I know what we’re doing is helping these young men and women be the best versions of themselves, to put what they learned here at Seton Hall to it's best use as they enter the next phase of their lives upon graduation.”
