David E. Shipley, a law professor and former dean of the law school, will succeed Jere W. Morehead, vice president for instruction, as faculty athletics representative effective July 1. In September, Morehead was named senior vice president for academic affairs and provost effective Jan. 1.
The faculty athletics representative, a position required under NCAA bylaws, is responsible for assuring academic compliance with NCAA regulations and academic success for student-athletes. The post is an ex officio member of the board of the Georgia Athletic Association, and a voting representative of the institution at both the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA.
The position is “the president’s eyes and ears within the athletics program,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams, who determined that Morehead’s new responsibilities as provost would demand his full attention, but that the most effective and appropriate time to make the transition would be at the end of the academic and athletic year following the June SEC meeting.
Shipley served as dean of the UGA School of Law from 1998 to 2003, having previously served as law dean at the universities of Kentucky and Mississippi. He stepped down from the UGA deanship to take a position on the law faculty.
A four-year letterman in both cross country and swimming at Oberlin College, Shipley currently serves on the UGA Athletic Board and previously served on the University Council’s Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics.
“My Division III athletic experience is a far cry from that of the SEC,” Shipley said, “but we took things seriously and that experience in varsity sports gives me a good appreciation of the demands on our student-athletes.”
“David Shipley will make an outstanding faculty athletics representative,” Morehead said. “His legal background is particularly helpful in evaluating NCAA rules as well as proposed NCAA and SEC legislation.”
To facilitate the transition, Shipley will join Morehead at the winter and spring meetings of the SEC and at the NCAA convention in January.
