CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Throughout the month of March the Mid-American Conference will celebrate Women's History Month and leaders from across our campuses as we reflect on the contributions and accomplishments of women's athletics and administration throughout the Conference. During March the MAC will feature one leader from each campus via social media on the Conference official social media accounts -- Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. #MACtion #WHM


Eastern Michigan, Shirley Spoke
Shirley Spork, a 1949 graduate of then Michigan State Normal College, went on to become a founding member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the LPGA National Golf School. She was a part-time Tour player in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, participating in U.S. Opens, LPGA Championships and the Tam O’Shanter All-American Open.

Despite graduating 23 years before Title IX created gender equity in sports in 1972, Spork has still been able to give back to Eastern Michigan Athletics in support of the women's golf team. An endowment to the program is named in her honor to supplement the operational budget and further expand golf opportunities for women. 

Spork, the first female inducted into the E-Club Hall of Fame in 1981, began her golf career early in life. She started playing with one club, a putter, at age 10 when she lived near Bonnie Brook Golf Course in Detroit, Mich. Throughout high school, Spork would participate in the annual City Championship at Palmer Park Municipal, which was only a nine-hole event. While attending MSNC, Spork won the Women’s District Match Play Championship three times in four years. In 1947, she was the winner of the first-ever National Collegiate Championship held for women’s athletics, plus she was the victor of the 1949 Michigan Amateur. 

After graduation, Spork became a teacher in the Detroit public schools, but realized she would much rather be playing golf. She turned professional in 1950 and played the tour but along the way, realized she still was a teacher and in 1959 along with Marilynn Smith, Betty Hicks and Barbara Rotvig, she founded the LPGA’s Teaching and Club Professional Division. 

Spork was the first LPGA professional to conduct golf clinics in foreign countries and was a two-time LPGA Teacher of the Year (1959, 1984). She was the chairperson of the LPGA T&CP Division from 1960-66 and received the Meritorious Service Award in 1989 and the Byron Nelson Award in 1994.



Toledo, Dr. Celia Williamson
Dr. Celia Williamson is a distinguished university professor of social work and is Executive Director, Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute. Dr. Celia Williamson has been engaged in anti-human trafficking work for over 25 years. She has published numerous articles on the subject and has delivered over 200 presentations at various conferences and events. She founded the first anti-trafficking program in Ohio in 1993 and directly worked with victims in Toledo for several years. She has completed numerous federally funded studies, written several articles and reports, edited two books on sex trafficking around the world, and completed her memoir as an anti-trafficking advocate.
 
Dr. Williamson’s accomplishments include: Founding the annual International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference; founding the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition; Chairing the Research & Analysis Subcommittee for the Ohio Attorney General's Human Trafficking Commission; and serving as President of the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars. In 2015, she became the Director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo to further the mission of combating human trafficking through research, education, and engagement. Dr. Williamson teaches social work practice and human trafficking courses to university students. 



Western Michigan, Ruth Ann Meyer
Ruth Ann Meyer served for three decades in the Western Michigan Physical Education Department and guided women's athletics during its formative years. Meyer was a trailblazer as the first female senior administrator, serving as Assistant Athletic Director from 1972-76. She also chaired the Women's Recreation Association from 1965-72.

Meyer was the second head volleyball coach in program history, taking over from Jean Friedel in 1965. She coached until 1975, leading teams to an overall record of 115-85, including undefeated season in 1965 and 1967. The 1971 squad lost only three matches, all at the national tournament and finished 22-3 overall.

Meyer was instrumental in fighting for better funding and resources for women's athletics at Western Michigan. She stepped down from her post as Assistant AD in 1976 to take a sabbatical to finish doctoral studies and continued to teach within WMU's HPER Department until her retirement in 1998.

Meyer was a member of the U.S. Field Hockey Association since the 1960s and a former festival umpiring chairperson as well as a member of the U.S. Volleyball Association. Meyer was inducted into the Western Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Northern Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000. She earned the WMU "W" Club's Woman of the Year honors in 2003.



Miami, Olivia Rusek
Olivia Rusek finished her Miami volleyball career and ranked 18th in program history with 1,014 kills.  Rusek was the 2017 MAC Co-Player of the Year and was also named 2017 MAC Tournament MVP. Rusek was named All-MAC First Team selection and was a three-time Academic All-MAC selection.



Sue Guevara, Central Michigan
Guevara led the CMU program for 12 seasons, posting a record of 231-156. She is the winningest head coach in program history and ranks fifth all-time in the Mid-American Conference. Guevara has taken the Chippewas to unprecedented heights, transforming the program into a Mid-American Conference power and a team to be reckoned with in March. In 2018-19, the Chippewas just won their third-straight MAC championship and played in the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season. CMU also won a pair of MAC Tournament titles under Guevara's leadership and won four-straight MAC West Division crowns. Guevara was named the MAC Coach of the Year for a third time after the 2018-19 season. 



Northern Illinois, Cary Groth
Cary Groth served her alma mater for 23 years as head coach (women's tennis in 1981-84), administrator (1984-94), and athletics director (1994-2004). Her meteoric rise began as a two-sport Northern Illinois letter winner in tennis (1974-77) and basketball (1976-77) and culminated as Athletic Director -- one of only three women athletic directors at an NCAA institution with 1-A football at the time (1994). Her major achievements at NIU included rejoining the MAC (1997-98), making NCAA Certification (1995, 2000), hiring and sticking with head football coach Joe Novak, initiating the updated Huskie logo (2001), and helping develop capital facilities projects as the Huskie Stadium East Grandstand (1995) and its FieldTurf surface (2001), the Convocation Center (2002), Ralph McKinzie Field (baseball), Mary M. Bell Field (softball), and soccer complex.
 
Groth served on the Secretary of Education's national Blue Ribbon panel on opportunity in athletics (2002-03), plus earned the ATALANTA Award (1997), Gen. Robert Neyland Achievement Award (2002), WBCA Administrator of the Year and NACWAA Division 1-A Administrator of the Year (2003).  Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal included Groth in its "Super 50: Women's Sports Executives (1998). In 1988, she assisted in the merger of the NIU men's and women's athletic departments. 



Akron, Dr. Sydney Chinchanachokchai
Dr. Sydney Chinchanachokchai is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the College of Business Administration at The University of Akron.  She received her MBA and Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she worked with multiple top cross-cultural researchers on various research projects.
 
Dr. Chinchanachokchai’s research expertise is in the areas of consumer psychology including attention, ad avoidance, advertising effectiveness, and cross-cultural marketing. She has presented her research at multiple academic conferences in various countries around the world.
 
Dr. Chinchanachokchai has co-authored multiple high-quality publications, which appeared in top outlets such as Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Computers in Human Behavior, International Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Marketing Management. At the University of Akron, Dr. Chinchanachokchai teaches Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Digital Marketing, and eCommerce.
 
Her passion in research and teaching came from experiences living and working in multiple cultures. Dr. Chinchanachokchai was born and raised in Thailand before coming to the United States for her graduate degrees. Prior to her academic career, she worked in a multinational finance company in Thailand.
 
When she is not wearing her college professor’s hat, Dr. Chinchanachokchai is an ultramarathon runner and a triathlete. She trains on roads and trails, races locally, nationally, and internationally from 50 kilometers (31 miles) to 100-mile races. Dr. Chinchanachokchai finished her first marathon in October 2016 and a month later ran her first 50K (ultramarathon). To her, an ultramarathon is not just a sport, but it is a lifestyle. She also uses long runs to practice mindfulness and sometimes to solve the world's problems. Dr. Chinchanachokchai finished her first 100-mile race at the Canal Corridor 100 Mile Endurance Run in 2018. She was recognized as Female Runner of the Year by Medina County Road Runners (in 2017) and the Most Inspirational Runner (in 2019). 
 
Dr. Chinchanachokchai is also a firm believer in community engagement and supports various types of community engagement projects. Her marketing classes work with local small businesses and nonprofit organizations to help them with their marketing/advertising strategies. She is a board member of a nonprofit organization in Northeast Ohio that raises money to support local charities through organizing running races. She also volunteers her marketing expertise to help promote local nonprofit races through digital and social media. 



Ball State, Marianne Lafferty Vorhees
Marianne Lafferty Vorhees was a starting outfielder on the Ball State softball team from 1976-80 and helped the Cardinals win two state titles and finish runner-up once.  She helped the Cardinals advance to regionals three times, placing fourth in 1980 and led the team in doubles, sacrifice bunts and fielding percentage as a senior.  She graduated summa cum laude in Latin and then earned her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame.  Lafferty Vorhees was inducted into the Delaware County Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988.
  
Lafferty Vorhees is a judge for the Circuit Court of Delaware County of the Indiana Circuit Courts. Judge Vorhees has volunteered her time as a past board member of the United Way of Delaware County, Muncie Family YMCA, A Better Way, Prevent Child Abuse of Delaware County, Delaware County Convention and Tourism Commission. She is also past president of the Muncie Bar Association and has initiated many programs into the court system during her tenure as a judge.



Ohio, Renee Renée Middleton
Dr. Middleton serves as Dean of Ohio University's Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education and Human Services. In this capacity, she oversees the College's five departments: Counseling and Higher Education, Human and Consumer Science Education, Educational Studies, Recreation and Sport Pedagogy, and Teacher Education.

She is also responsible for the nine centers housed within the College, numerous community partnerships, and the professional development schools that shape the education experience of approximately 1,800 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students. Prior to assuming the deanship in August 2006, Dr. Middleton served as the director of research, human resource development and outreach for Auburn University's College of Education in Auburn, Alabama.

Dr. Middleton is a tenured professor of Counselor Education with 29 years of teaching experience. She has been integral in procuring and administering research and outreach grants that total over $1.4 million. She has contributed to several book chapters and monographs and coauthored over 25 peer-reviewed articles. Her research focuses on racial identity theory, its development, and its association to multicultural counseling competency. Dr. Middleton's research interests also include disability policy issues, education and workforce diversity, and aging and disability.

Dean Middleton received the B.S. in Speech and Hearing from Andrews University, the M.A. in Clinical Audiology from the University of Tennessee, and the Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Administration from Auburn University.


Kent State, Dr. Kathy Wilson
Kathryn Wilson received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1996 and has been an Economics faculty member at Kent State University ever since. Her research primarily focuses on poverty, inequality, and social mobility and has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Public Economics, Demography, and Review of Income and Wealth. She has taught a variety of courses, including Public Finance, Economics of Health Care, Economics of Poverty, and Principles of Microeconomics.
 
Currently she teaches the Economics capstone course Senior Seminar. She became department chair in 2018 and has previously served as Interim Dean and as Interim Associate Dean in the College of Business.  Dr. Wilson has served as the Faculty Athletics Representative for Kent State since 2004. 


Buffalo, Dorsi Raynolds
Buffalo alum Dorsi Raynolds served as head coach of the Buffalo women’s swimming and diving team from 1992 to 2005. She finished her 13-year career with the Bulls with 67 dual meet victories – at the time, the most in school history. Over her career, she placed 70 swimmers on all-conference teams, including two-time Mid-American Conference Swimmer of the Year and UB Hall of Famer Jennefer Brankovsky. Raynolds lost her courageous fight with cancer in 2018 at the age of 54.


Bowling Green, Marcia Saneholtz
Marcia Saneholtz, a native of Napoleon, Ohio, played women's basketball at BGSU from 1962-64 but her contributions to college athletics reach far beyond her playing days. Following her time at Bowling Green, she went on to have a distinguished career as an administrator at Washington State from 1979 until her retirement in 2007.
 
Saneholtz is recognized as a long-time proponent of gender equity and a champion for Olympic sports. She served as the National Association of College Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA) president from 1992-93 and was on the board of directors from 1987-94. She was named NACWAA Administrator of the Year in 1997 and received the NACWAA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. Saneholtz earned the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports (NAGWS) Pathfinder Award in 2001 and was named the Woman of Distinction at Washington State in 2003.
 
Saneholtz served on numerous NCAA and Pacific 10 Conference committees, including the Committee on Women's Athletics (2001-05), the Women's Division I Volleyball Committee (1993-99 and chair from 1996-99), the Committee on Athletic Certification (1993-99), the President's Commission Liaison Committee (1992-96) and the Women's Committee on Committees (1989-92). She also served two terms as the Pacific 10 Conference vice president.
 
Saneholtz was recognized with the Washington State University Association of Faculty Women Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award in 2007, the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame Scroll of Honor in 2009 and the Napoleon High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2010.
 
Upon her retirement, Washington State's volleyball court was renamed Marcia Saneholtz Court in her honor. In 2005, Saneholtz returned to BGSU to receive a varsity letter in recognition of her pioneering role as an intercollegiate athlete.
 
Saneholtz received her degree from BGSU in 1964 in health, physical education and biology. She was inducted into the Bowling Green Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.