It’s all about the student-athlete for Kerry Jones.
"They have to perform in both places (in their sport and the classroom),"
Jones said. "We just try to set up an environment to help with that … We
just try to provide the support they need for it.
"(We’re) trying to figure out how to help the students progress, and that is
different for every student," she added.
Jones was recently promoted to director of the Office of Student-Athlete Services at
Bowling Green State University. She replaces Ashley Baker who went to the
University of Georgia to further her education.
Keeping up with ever-changing NCAA rules and regulations is one of the more difficult
tasks for Jones.
"They change all the time; it’s a moving target," Jones said. "What I
tell you the rule is today, unfortunately it could change tomorrow.
"I know the intent of their rules is for a student to be on progress toward a
degree, to have a meaning for their academic experience and to graduate. But
sometimes it doesn’t always play out."
The biggest thrill for Jones is when a student-athlete graduates and you can see the
difference in the person from when they first arrived on campus.
"When they come in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in their first year, they might
have some challenges and we have to see how we can help them," Jones said.
"Seeing what they do when they graduate and seeing how much has happened in
those four or five years, that’s where I like to see the change and the
difference and how much they have developed."
Jones added that she wants the student-athletes to be comfortable coming to the
student-athlete services offices to talk about any aspect of college life.
Mark Shook, BGSU’s associate athletics director for compliance and student-athlete
services, is impressed with Jones.
"Kerry has been a valuable staff member in the athletics department since her
arrival here in 2008," Shook said at the time of Jones’ promotion.
"Her overall maturity, insight, intelligence and effort have impressed me.
We look forward to the future of the Office of Student-Athlete Services with her
leading our day-to-day academic support and life skills programming
efforts."
Jones earned her bachelors degree from Westminster College (Pa.) and received her
master’s degree from BGSU in college student personnel in 2004.
She has worked in higher education for the past 10 years in various capacities in
student affairs, academic affairs and intercollegiate athletics. Jones also has
held positions at Heidelberg College and Ashland University.
"Being at Heidelberg, since they are Division III, six or seven hundred out of
the 1,000 (students) are on an athletic roster, I was working with students who
happened to be athletes. I saw a lot of those issues and how they have a unique
relationship with the university,” Jones said.
It was at Heidelberg that Jones decided that her doctoral dissertation research would
center around the student-athletes experience and how the students balance
academics with athletics.
She became a doctoral graduate assistant in BGSU’s student-athlete services
department in the fall of 2008, when she was an academic coordinator, oversaw
the tutoring program, and taught a class. Jones was promoted to assistant
director in February 2011 and took over as director earlier this month.
Now in addition to her full-time position, Jones is in the dissertation phase of her
doctoral program in higher education administration at Bowling Green. She said
there are a few more steps in the process that need to be completed before she
earns her doctorate.
"Once I get my degree, I would have been job searching and this is the job I
would have been looking for," Jones said. "Based on my background this
is a good fit for what my next step would have been.
"I’m really looking forward to the opportunity."
Jones said the student-athletes notice when someone from student-athletes services
show up at their game or match.
"You know that it makes a different," Jones said. "I can’t physically
be at every competition, but I try to get to as many as I can.
"That’s something that I also tell the staff; students need to see us as more
than just their academic contact," Jones continued. "They need to know
that we support them across the board.”