BLUE ASH, Ohio – The 2017-18 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Spring Awards Banquet crowned the Male/Female Collegiate Achievement Award winners and the Faculty Mentor of the Year at the Cooper Creek Event Center on Tuesday night.
 
The annual awards banquet officially closed the book on the 2017-18 academic year with the exception of student-athletes traveling to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Charlotte, N.C., this week.
 
The Great Midwest annually selects one male and one female student-athlete to be awarded the Collegiate Achievement Award. The overall male/female athlete of the year and scholar-athlete of the year awards are announced later in the summer.
 
This award is based upon an individual’s academic excellence, athletic achievements, character, leadership and engagement within the community and conference. The 2017-18 academic year represents the fourth annual presentation of the award.
 
The Great Midwest Faculty Mentor of the Year is voted upon by the Great Midwest Student-Athlete Advisory Committee members. The conference winner is officially moved forward in the nomination process for NCAA DII Dr. Dave Pariser Faculty Mentor of the Year.
 
Great Midwest Faculty Mentor of the Year
Dr. Jennifer Riggleman
Davis & Elkins
 
As decided upon by the Great Midwest Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Dr. Jennifer Riggleman, Associate Professor for Sport Science/Faculty Athletic Representative at Davis & Elkins College, was this year’s honoree for the G-MAC Faculty Mentor of the Year award.
 
A native of Elkins, W.Va., Dr. Riggleman joined the Davis & Elkins College faculty full time in 2008 and currently teaches wellness education, exercise testing and prescription, kinesiology, stress testing, community health, contemporary problems and diseases, family life education and physiology of exercise, among other courses.
 
She earned her Ed.D. in educational leadership with an emphasis in higher education administration from Marshall University. Her dissertation was titled “Effectiveness of Essentials for College Math as a High School Transitional Course.”
 
Dr. Riggleman received nothing but praise from different student-athletes at D&E, including Kaylee Yergeau and Alicia Roth (women’s basketball), Dylan Stansbury (men’s track and field) and Katie Manson and Alyssa Cairns (softball), as they detailed her impact on campus.

Riggleman also serves in important leadership capacities on various Great Midwest Athletic Conference committees. At present, she is chair of the Faculty Athletic Representatives Council and the Joint Council after serving as vice chair for the previous two years of both. She has served on the Ethics & Eligibility Committee, Assessment & Strategic Planning Committee and Scheduling Committee.
 
As the Great Midwest award winner at the conference level, Riggleman will also be nominated at the national level towards consideration for the NCAA Division II Dr. Dave Pariser Faculty Mentor of the Year honor.