NORFOLK, Va., Feb. 1, 2022 – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) celebrates the 50th anniversary of Title IX, one of the most significant and consequential pieces of legislation in the history of intercollegiate athletics.
As part of this celebration, the conference recognizes longtime Howard University administrator Sondra Norrell-Thomas. She has the distinction of being the first and only female Director of Athletics in Howard University history, having been named Interim Director on July 1, 2000 before taking over in a full-time capacity in May 2001.
In a career steeped in athletics, Norrell-Thomas served as Howard’s Associate Athletics Director from 1974-86, and she was named the university’s first Coordinator of Women’s Athletics in 1972 – the same year Title IX was ratified.
Norrell-Thomas was also the first female member of the committee that elected Kenneth Free, the MEAC’s first full-time commissioner, and she was the first woman to serve as a consultant with the MEAC Council of Presidents and Chancellors.
She was inducted into the MEAC Hall of Fame in 1993, the first woman to be enshrined.
About the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is in its 51st year of intercollegiate competition with the 2021-22 academic school year. Located in Norfolk, Va., the MEAC is made up of eight outstanding historically black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State University.