SYRACUSE HIRES ROURKE AS AN ACADEMIC COORDINATOR FOR FOOTBALL

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Brady Rourke joined the Syracuse University Athletics Department as the assistant director of student-athlete support services. A 2003 graduate of Penn State University, Rourke brings seven years of experience in the academic support profession to the Orange. He is responsible for providing academic support and monitoring academic progress for Syracuse’s football student-athletes, the same role he had at Penn State from 2007-12 and at Arizona State in 2006. He began his career in academics as a graduate assistant for the PSU football academic support program in 2003.

In his role as academic coordinator at Penn State, Rourke served as the director of the Athletic Director’s Leadership Institute, managing the student-athlete leadership development program available to all 31 varsity sports. He was also the faculty advisor for PRIDE, a student sportsmanship team at PSU, working with the students to address fan behavior. Rourke was an instructor for the freshmen seminar at PSU, educating incoming student-athletes about balancing athletics and academics.

In addition to serving as the academic coordinator for football and men’ track & field at Arizona State, Rourke was also the career development coordinator. He was an instructor for freshmen enrichment and helped develop course content for the freshmen seminar to assist student-athlete in developing a strong academic foundation.

Rourke is the Chair of the N4A Model Practices Committee for the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A). The committee is responsible for developing action plans to improve best practices in academic support. At Penn State, Rourke earned a bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation services education in 2003 and a master’s degree in higher education services in 2006.