| Christian Spears |
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Institution Christian Spears has served as the Senior Associate Athletic Director at Northern Illinois University since April 2009. Spears' responsibilities at NIU include serving as the primary liaison between several campus units and Intercollegiate Athletics, including Academic and Student Affairs. In this role, Spears manages the admission processing of student-athletes, coordinates interactions between Registration and Records and Student Financial Aid, and supervises the Huskie Athletic Compliance Office and the Student-Athlete Academic Support Services unit. He is also the sport administrator for women's soccer, cross country and track & field; and he coordinates the department's Academic Progress Rate (APR) and Graduation Success Rate. Spears joined the NIU executive team after six years at Southern Illinois University, where he served as the Assistant Athletic Director. While at SIU, Spears initiated the development of several new programs, including the "Sports Studies Intercollegiate Athletic Graduate Internship Program" in coordination with the Department of Kinesiology and the Law School Externship in the Saluki Athletic Compliance Office in coordination with the SIU School of Law. Additionally, Spears is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association for Athletics Compliance (NAAC) and serves as the Chair of the Education and Professional Standards Committee. Prior to NIU, Spears worked in the Department of Athletics at Long Beach State, Ohio State, Harvard and SIU. Spears is a graduate of the University of Washington, where he majored in political science. He obtained a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Long Beach State University in 1998 and he received his Juris Doctor from The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law in 2002. Christian and his wife, Julia, reside in Sycamore with their sons, Rainier and Kai and their daughter Skyla. |
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