Once a cheerleader, athletic director Margie Strait is now calling the shots as she cheers her teams. Margie has helped to initiate some impressive changes in St. Lawrence’s athletic program and has taken leadership roles on both conference and a national level. She also serves as chair of the department of Sports Studies and Exercise Science and has been on a number of campus committees.

Now in her ninth year as the director of athletics, she has coordinated the addition of seven new sports to the athletic offerings, creating a 32-sport program and has been involved in all phases of an extensive renovation of the University’s athletic facilities. She has also served as a member of the executive committees of both the Eastern College Athletic Conference and the ECAC Hockey League and has been president of the Liberty League. She played a significant role in an initiative to defeat a NCAA Division III proposal which would impacted St. Lawrence’s Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey teams.

She spent 17 seasons as women’s tennis coach, eight as men’s tennis coach and was a ski coach prior to taking over as the University’s top athletic administrator in 1998-99. She was recognized for her contributions to skiing by the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association in 2004 and was inducted into the Cortland State College Hall of Fame in 2003. She will also be inducted into the Madrid-Waddington Hall of Fame this fall.