In the last episode we heard about the mental health needs of college athletes and how they are met at a Division I university. In this episode we hear about how their academic needs are met. An outstanding former high school and college student-athlete herself, Mary Chris Finnigan combines a love of the energy of sports with an extensive background in academic counseling. She played college basketball at the University of California Santa Barbara. She served as the head girls’ basketball coach for her former high school for eight years, where she also worked as a guidance counselor and served as the Director of the Counseling Center for eight of her thirteen years there.

Since July 2018 Mary Chris has been the Director of Academics for the Athletics department at the University of Utah, a public research university in Salt Lake City. In this role she and her staff support the 500 student-athletes at the University in becoming independent learners, while also ensuring they have a positive student-athlete experience. In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Mary Chris is the day-to-day academic advisor for the University’s baseball, golf, men’s basketball, volleyball and beach volleyball teams. 

In this episode, Mary Chris describes the many aspects of her work and its challenges and rewards. She shares insights into the needs of student athletes on many different levels and what it means to have a positive student-athlete experience; the pressures of timely tracking of NCAA eligibility, complicated by recent changes in NIL; and the importance of building relationships from recruitment through degree completion.