Courtesy of Delaware State Athletic Media Relations
Delaware State University has announced that Alecia Shields-Gadson, Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance and Senior Woman Administrator, has added the newly created position of Deputy Athletics Director to her title.
The appointment, announced by DSU Director of Athletics Dr. Scott Gines, assigns Shields-Gadson additional responsibilities as the department's Diversity and Inclusion Designee (ADID), fulfilling a new NCAA requirement that went into effect on Aug. 1.
Shields-Gadson has more than 25 years of experience in intercollegiate athletics as a senior level administrator and head coach. Prior to joining the Delaware State staff in 2016, she was an athletics administrator at Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) rival Coppin State, in addition to Alcorn State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
Her responsibilities as Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance and Senior Woman Administrator at Delaware State have included student-athlete welfare, NCAA, conference (MEAC, ECAC, Southern Conference) and Title IX compliance, recruiting rules, in addition to student-athlete and community engagement.
As DSU Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Designee, Shields-Gadson will facilitate programming, provide educational resources and advocate for diverse, equitable and inclusive environments that enhance the overall student-athlete experience.
Last spring, she spearheaded Delaware State's "Athletics in Action," a forum offering group and personal discussion, reflection, testimony and expert guests, along with resources to deal with the challenges posed by the pandemic and social justice issues for student-athletes, coaches and staff.
"Alecia is perfectly skilled for the responsibilities of this critically important position in college athletics today," Gines said. "In fact, she has been providing outstanding leadership in the areas covered by the position for quite some time at Delaware State. I am extremely confident that Alecia will make the most of the opportunity to benefit our student-athletes and the university community."
While at Coppin State, Shields-Gadson twice served as interim director of athletics, interim director of compliance and in her role as Deputy Director of Athletics/SWA she had direct oversight of several administrative areas most notably academics, media relations, marketing and promotions and sport administration. She was also an instructor in the Sports management department.
During her time at Coppin State as Deputy Director of Athletics/ SWA, Shields-Gadson chaired various NCAA committees including Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee, Division I men's and women's track and field committee and Woman of the Year selection committee. She also assisted Coppin State at being awarded a $900k NCAA Accelerating Academic Success Program (AASP) grant designed to improve academic standards at institutions with limited resources.
While at Alcorn State as Sr. Associate Athletic Director and SWA, Shields-Gadson was a graduate of the NCAA Fellows Leadership development program and served on various conference and university committees. She was a successful track & field student-athlete at Southern University at Baton Rouge and where she also served as team captain.
"I'm grateful to Dr. Gines and Delaware State for the confidence in my leadership abilities to appoint me to such a critical position in our athletics department," Shields-Gadson said. "I'm also thankful that Dr. Gines has helped to prepare me for the post by valuing my input and opinion on a variety of athletics and life issues. I'm looking forward to expanding my role to help the university best serve our student-athletes."
A native of New Orleans, La., she received earned a bachelor's in English/Communications from Southern University in 1992 and master's in Athletic Administration and Secondary Education/Physical Education from Alcorn State in 1995. She's currently enrolled in Delaware State University's Educational Leadership doctoral program. .