BOZEMAN – Montana State University President Waded Cruzado has appointed Dawn Tarabochia as the university’s new faculty-athletics representative, a role designed to prioritize and support the well-being of MSU student-athletes.

Tarabochia is the head of the Department of Food Systems, Nutrition and Kinesiology in MSU’s College of Education, Health and Human Development. She replaces George Haynes, a professor in the College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, who will retire after more than three decades as a faculty member and 13 years as the faculty-athletics representative.

“I would like to express our deep thanks to Dr. Haynes for his dedication to supporting our students through his work as a faculty member and his commitment to the role of faculty-athletics representative,” said Cruzado. “I know Dr. Tarabochia will continue to provide excellent support to our Bobcat athletes as she transitions into this role.”

The NCAA requires its member institutions to have faculty-athletics representatives, and in the Big Sky Conference, they are appointed by each institution’s president. Faculty-athletics representatives report to both the conference and the NCAA on matters of student-athlete wellness and academic performance.

Tarabochia, who has been on MSU’s faculty for 17 years, previously chaired the University Athletic Committee – as did Haynes before he became the representative in 2011. The committee liaises between Bobcat Athletics, the MSU president and the Office of Student Success on topics from academic integrity and NCAA compliance to equity and student-athlete welfare. Tarabochia herself was a student-athlete in the Big Sky Conference, competing in track and field and cross country at the University of Idaho.

“I think for me, the biggest part is having a place on the team to be able to support student-athlete well-being. I think that that's really important,” said Tarabochia.

The role dovetails with Tarabochia’s academic and outreach work, which focuses on well-being in older adults with a focus on physical activity. As faculty-athletics representative, she will meet biannually with the other representatives in the Big Sky Conference and interact regularly with her peers from across the NCAA.

She said she is looking forward to having a positive impact on the lives of Bobcat athletes, making sure they know they have a faculty member dedicated to their success both on and off the field, track or court. She said Haynes has proved to be an invaluable mentor as she prepares to take on the new role.

“I am so honored to have been selected for this position,” she said. “I’m learning the ropes from Dr. Haynes, and he has been fantastic. I'm really looking forward to that direct involvement with the athletic department around maintaining student well-being while working toward both academic and athletic success.”

Haynes said serving as faculty-athletics representative has been a highlight of his years at MSU. Also a former collegiate student-athlete – having played basketball for Principia College in Illinois – he conducted undergraduate research on student-athlete wellness and can testify to the power of athletics in young people’s lives.

“I often found myself advocating for student-athletes for a host of reasons,” said Haynes, who attended Bobcat athletic events long before becoming a graduate student at MSU in agricultural economics. “The opportunities to do that made me realize that being faculty-athletics representative was not just an administrative task, but rather a chance to make a difference in the lives of student-athletes and make a meaningful contribution to MSU.”

As he moves into retirement, Haynes said the faculty and staff both in the College of Agriculture and Bobcat Athletics have been outstanding to work with. But the most rewarding thing, he said, was watching the growth of MSU student-athletes as they pursue their goals both in athletics and academics.

“I’ll miss participating in exit interviews about their academic and athletic experience at MSU,” he said. “The exit interviews ended with one question: ‘If you could do it all over again, would you attend MSU?’ And the answer was almost always a resounding ‘yes,’ which, by itself, made being faculty-athletics representative a rewarding experience.”