CLEVELAND – The Mid-American Conference hosted its fifth annual “Taking MACtion” Summit this week in a virtual setting over a three-day span. This year’s Summit focused on “Today in College Athletics” and highlighted three topical issues including Anxiety/Depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, Social Justice through Race Relations and Leadership in Chaos.
The Summit featured over 230 individuals, including student-athletes, across all 12 MAC institutions and produced daily speakers that included Ohio State sports psychologist Chelsi Day, Cleveland Cavaliers Vice President for Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement Kevin Clayton and CEO of the Ochsner Baptist Hospital Beth Walker. Each 90-minute daily session incorporated a topic driven presentation, followed by breakout sessions that promoted discussion to stimulate different ideas and solutions to the topics raised from the directed questions.
“I loved being a part of the MAC Summit,” said NIU Head Women’s Basketball Coach Lisa Carlsen. “Extremely knowledgeable speakers, very timely information and a great group to collaborate with during times when we all need to really work together. I’m proud to be a part of this league knowing we are doing all we can to help our student athletes have the best experience possible on all fronts at our institutions.”
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The Taking MACtion Summit marked the conclusion of MAC Mental Health Awareness Week, a Council of Student-Athletes (COSA) initiative with support of the member institutions to bring awareness to mental health issues, as part of the Conference’s mental health program.
“I think being able to attend the Taking MACtion Summit is a great opportunity to hear important conversations about issues in today's world,” said University at Buffalo student-athlete Dante Haynes, “The combination of individuals from all different schools from the MAC contributes to a great environment where we can hear many different perspectives on the issues we see today.”
MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE
Founded in 1946, the Mid-American Conference is an NCAA Division I, 12-member conference that sponsors 23 championships and is one of 10 members of the Football Bowl Subdivison (FBS). With total enrollment of nearly 300,000 students, the league represents institutions of higher learning in five states - Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, and Ohio.
Current MAC schools and the year they joined are -- East Division: University of Akron (1992), Bowling Green State University (1952), University at Buffalo (1998), Kent State University (1951), Miami University (1947), Ohio University (1946). West Division: Ball State University (1973), Central Michigan University (1971), Eastern Michigan University (1971), Northern Illinois University (1975-86, rejoined in 1997), University of Toledo (1950), Western Michigan University (1947). The conference office is based in Cleveland, Ohio.
