BINGHAMTON, NY – “Bearcats Athletics: Excellence with Honor,” will be the topic of the Binghamton University Forum luncheon program on Thursday, Jan. 10. Lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the program will start at noon in the Old Union Hall of the University Union.
Featured panelists include Patrick Elliott, director of athletics, as well as the men’s and women’s basketball coaches Tom Dempsey and Nicole Scholl.
Prior to becoming Binghamton University’s athletics director in November 2011, Patrick Elliott was the director of athletics at Saint Peter’s College for three years. He also served as senior associate athletics director for finance, planning and operations at St. John’s University. In his three-year tenure at Saint Peter’s, Elliott spearheaded rapid growth that culminated with the school’s most successful athletics year in 2010-11. In addition to the athletics success, Saint Peter’s had two teams receive NCAA public recognition for the top 10 percent standing in Academic Progress Rate (APR) and more than one-third of the student-athletes achieved a 3.3 or higher GPA during the 2011 spring semester. Buoyed by Elliott’s academic initiatives, the overall student-athlete grade-point average for the fall semester rose to an all-time high of 3.03, and that average climbed to a record 3.1 GPA for the spring.
Tom Dempsey joined Binghamton University as head basketball coach in May 2012. A native of Scranton, Pa., he came to Binghamton directly from Rider University, where he served as head coach for seven seasons. Dempsey has established the school record for wins at three different colleges and has been named Coach of the Year four times in nine years as head coach.
Nicole Scholl is in her fourth season as head coach of women’s basketball at Binghamton and in her 13th year overall with the program. During her time at the helm, she has guided the Bearcats into one of the top teams in the America East Conference. Scholl came to Binghamton from Division II North Dakota State University, where she helped lead the Bison to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances.
The Binghamton University Forum is a membership organization comprised of business, professional and community leaders that brings nationally known authorities to speak at functions throughout the year. For more information, call the Forum office at (607) 777-4930.
