By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- She was attending a college field hockey tournament at Bates College several years ago when the idea started to form.
Dr. Marybeth Lamb, the Senior Associate Vice President for Athletics and Student Wellness at Bridgewater State University, saw a member of the Bates faculty interacting with student-athletes during the tournament.
Dr. Lamb learned that the faculty member was a mentor for the field hockey squad, part of a program to give the student-athletes an outlet to discuss various issues on campus.
"I kept seeing this faculty member going to see the Bates team," said Dr. Lamb. "I struck up a conversation and she told me about the program they did.
"I brought it back to Bridgewater, talked to (Dr. Robert MacMillan, an education and health sciences professor) and said, 'This is something we should do.'"
They worked to implement a similar Faculty Mentor program at Bridgewater State, and it began four years ago.
After half of the Bears' teams had a mentor that first year, now all but one team has a mentor through the successful program.
Wednesday night at the Tinsley Center, Faculty Mentor Appreciation Night was held to honor those who mentor the student-athletes.
A reception was held at the Tinsley conference room and they were later recognized during the men's basketball game between BSU and Westfield State University.
"To have faculty mentors connected to athletic teams bridges the gap even better between athletics and students," said BSU President Frederick Clark. "We really want our student-athletes to focus on their academics as much as we want them to compete and win on the fields or on the courts.
"I think it makes a difference because our faculty can help our students to understand academic challenges they may have and overcome them."
Dr. MacMillan was the Faculty Athletics Representative until retiring and Dr. Andrew Miller has taken over in that role in addition to being the mentor for the men's and women's tennis teams.
They have helped put together a group of faculty members who are there for the student-athletes with problems that arise in sports, the classroom or around campus.
"It's a great program," said Dr. Lamb. "It just shows the commitment of our faculty. If you give people the opportunity to interact, to be involved, it's such a win-win.
"They get to see what our student-athletes are doing daily and our student-athletes get to see the faculty in a different light. They're not just the person in the front of the classroom."
Miller said that his work as a Faculty Mentor is "one of my favortie roles that I have on campus."
"It's more or less an informal advising role," said Miller. "We're an extra resource. We're more or less a friendly face that athletes will come to with a problem and we're a resource for coaches, too.
"Building a bridge and a community between athletics and academics is really one of the main goals that I like the most about it.
"We can help if they are not dog well in class, not knowing how to interact with a professor, deal with dorm issues."
In addition to Miller, the Faculty Mentor group includes Jodi Cohen (field hockey), Jon Cash and Sheena Rancher (football), Misti Neutzling (volleyball), Margaret Kjelgaard (cross country), Meghan Murphy and Wendy Knight (women's soccer), Mike Farley and Simone Poliandri (men's soccer).
Also, Kjelgaard and Avinandan Chakroborky (track & field), Jen Mead and Reihonna Frost-Calhoun (women's basketball), Matt Patey (wrestling), Jon Roling and Ed Deveney (swimming & diving) and Todd Harris (men's basketball).
Also, Kim Macinnis (baseball), Leslie Sattler and Mike Brophy (softball), Halie Singh (lacrosse) and Ashely Rodrigues (cheerleading).