Two weeks ago, Vice President of Student Affairs Andrea Dine announced that Athletic Director (A.D.) Lauren Haynie has been promoted to Assistant Vice President of Health, Wellness and Career here at Brandeis University.
Lauren Haynie served as the University’s 12th athletic director. Haynie has an impressive resume that is chock-full of notable experience within several esteemed athletics departments. Her previous experience includes being an athletic trainer at Lane College in Tennessee, assistant A.D. for sports medicine at Assumption College in Worcester and assistant director of sports medicine at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Haynie was also the special assistant to the A.D. at MIT where she played a role in partnering the athletics department with Title IX as well as the Rainbow Compass Program, to provide support for underrepresented minority and LGBTQ+ students. Following her time at MIT, Haynie worked at Wellesley College as the athletic department’s liaison to departments such as the dean of students, admissions, and financial aid. There she supervised all of athletics and ensured they maintained National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) compliance.
With being promoted to this position, Haynie will now be supervising the Health Center, Counseling Center, Hiatt Career Center, Health and Wellness Promotion (HAWP) and the Prevention, Advocacy and Resource Center (PARC). She will also become a member of the Student Affairs leadership team as a part of her new AVP role.
With having served as A.D. for her first four years at the University, Haynie has proven to be an excellent leader having implemented several avenues to make student athletes feel as safe and included as possible. During her time as A.D., Haynie was the inaugural University Athletic Association (UAA) Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Not only did she play this crucial role in supporting athletes in the UAA Conference, but she was also the first Athletic Director in the UAA to implement a Transgender Student Inclusion Policy. The exemplary leadership she demonstrated through her strategic initiatives is a perfect representation for why we were so lucky to have her as our A.D. for the past four years.
Haynie will certainly be missed as A.D., but she will undoubtedly see significant success in her new position on campus. The departments she will begin supervising are lucky to have her and will certainly see similar benefits to what the athletic department saw over the past four years.
As Haynie will make the transition into her new role by the end of this academic term, she says that she is “looking forward to engaging with talented colleagues in new ways with [their] shared vision of providing inclusive career, mental, and physical wellness structures for students during their time on campus.” Through this transition, she will maintain a role within both the Student Affairs and Athletic Departments. The University has embarked on its national search for the next Director of Athletics and plans to announce new information as they hire the new person for this position.
