By Kevin Lanke, associate vice president for athletics
After 25 years working in the athletic department at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, I was looking for a challenge and a personal growth opportunity. Ideally, somewhere that could benefit from my experiences but also provide daily chances for my skills to help advance an organization. The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Associate Vice President for Athletics role opened in early 2023. I was fortunate to find a campus community willing to trust in my vision to help the Department of Athletics move forward.
Every day, at least one experience happens that reminds me of one simple fact: we are positively impacting and changing lives at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. Our student-athletes come from across the United States and throughout the globe. We face our challenges, just as every school in higher education does in 2023. But we are on an upward trajectory. We have record on-campus enrollment. We have increased the visibility of our athletic program through the success of NAIA conference championship programs in softball, sprint football, cross country and track and field; high profile events such as a men’s basketball with Indiana State University and the women’s basketball crosstown classic with Rose-Hulman; massive equestrian and volleyball tournament events hosting as many as a dozen schools; and the success of student-athletes in all 16 of our sports. Simply put, it’s been a whirlwind six-month experience since I joined the campus team on June 5.
SMWC is in year three of its NAIA experience. The next 5-7 years will help define who we are as a national academic and athletic program. My vision is to work with campus leadership to help lead a steady, consistent positive incline of our athletic program, highlighted by the number one goal of our student-athletes making progress toward their bachelor’s and/or master’s degree while representing the best virtues and values of SMWC. We are fortunate that students and student-athletes want to come to SMWC in an era when other schools face declining enrollments.
“One Woods. Our Woods.” What will our academic and athletic programs be when our current first-year students become graduates in 2027? I can’t wait to find out.
Kevin Lanke is the associate vice president for athletics and has had a career in higher education athletics for almost three decades. He graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in economics and earned his master’s in recreation and sport management from Indiana State University. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he became the men’s sports information director for the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (ICAC). He then returned to Rose-Hulman, where he spent over 20 years in athletic administration.
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