Jane Possee<\/span>
\nAthletics Administrator and Former Coach<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”150px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”40px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text]
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/advancement\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2017-11-28_Jane_Possee_054.jpg\")
Jane Possee<\/p><\/div>\n
Jane Possee, a longtime athletics administrator and former coach, knows what it takes to be an effective leader. In 1975, she came to Rochester from Syracuse University to coach field hockey and women\u2019s basketball. In the same year, she initiated the University of Rochester\u2019s women\u2019s lacrosse team and continued to coach for the next 17 years. She\u2019s a change agent who\u2019s been involved in significant points in Athletics\u2019 history.<\/p>\n
Collegiate sports across the country were on the cusp of significant change when Possee came to Rochester. Title IX had only just launched in 1972 and colleges and universities everywhere were still figuring out how to implement the federal law\u2019s requirements. Its purpose was, and still is, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that is federally funded.<\/p>\n
\u201cTitle IX made a big difference in how female athletes are treated. In the beginning though, it was hard to change the ways things had always been done,\u201d says Possee. \u201cThe pie was only so big to support all sports, and we had to figure out what was doable and how to divide it equitably among the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time Possee started coaching women\u2019s basketball, all the women\u2019s teams had locker rooms in the Spurrier gym and the men had theirs in the Palestra, where all games were played\u2014by both the men and women. Possee went to the men\u2019s coach and the athletic director and said the women should have a locker room in the building where they play their games.<\/p>\n
Back then, the Palestra had two locker rooms on the third floor, one for the men\u2019s team and the other for the visiting team. To Possee, it made sense to give the women the visiting team\u2019s space. \u201cWe did end up getting that locker room, and the visiting teams went underneath the bleachers in an area redesigned for them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made such great strides since the 1970s and much of it can be attributed to Jane and to George VanderZwaag, who has led Athletics for the last 20 years,\u201d says Terry Gurnett, associate director (AD) of athletics. \u201cJane has a steady, rock solid commitment to women\u2019s sports that has served Rochester and our students so well.\u201d As associate AD since 2001 and women\u2019s soccer coach from 1977 to 2010, Gurnett has lived through many transformative moments in Rochester Athletics.<\/p>\n
Today, there are 23 varsity athletic teams and women\u2019s teams make up 12 of them. They include basketball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.<\/p>\n
Possee transitioned from coaching to administration in 1992. That\u2019s when she began overseeing the University\u2019s recreation program, which meant taking responsibility for intramurals, club sports, and rentals; student employment; and capital planning.<\/p>\n
In 1997, a big project came\u2014renovating what is now known as the Goergen Athletic Center, which was made possible because of a leadership gift from Robert Goergen \u201960 and his wife, Pamela, as well as support from Edmund A. Hajim \u201958 and his family. Possee led the project for Athletics.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/advancement\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Jane-Possee-FH.jpg\")
Jane Possee \u2013 Field Hockey<\/p><\/div>\n
Since then, Possee\u2019s been the point person on many Athletics\u2019 building and renovation initiatives, including the Speegle-Wilbraham Aquatic Center, the Bloch Fitness Center, and various facilities within and across the Brian F. Prince Athletic Complex. She\u2019ll take the lead on future capital improvements, too, such as renovating the Field House, the outdoor tennis courts, and the grandstands and press boxes for baseball and softball.<\/p>\n
Possee is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Goergen Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Learning, a Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Rochester Press-Radio Club\u2019s Jean Giambrone Service Award.<\/p>\n
When she isn\u2019t at work, Possee is with her family or sailing on Lake Ontario. She and her husband, Dick, have been married for 47 years and have six children and eight grandchildren. She is a former member and past president of the Board of Directors for the Sodus Junior Sailing Club, which her father started in the 1950s. She is also currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Genesee Waterways Center.<\/p>\n
Staying in touch with her former team members is important to Possee. She still connects with her first group of athletes at a reunion they hold every other year. \u201cI\u2019ve had the best students and athletes from the start,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to keep up with as many of them as I can.\u201d In 2011, a number of her former athletes established the Jane Possee Endowment for Women\u2019s Athletics, which provides perpetual support for women\u2019s sports at Rochester.<\/p>\n
With such a varied, dedicated, and recognized career in coaching and administration, Possee shares the following lessons for leaders: pay attention to the details, be a good listener, and take life one day at a time.[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”20px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1568980926576{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-top-color: #c4c4c4 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;}”]For more information about the Jane Possee Endowment for Women\u2019s Athletics, please contact Jared Longmore<\/a>, Director of Advancement for Athletics and Student Life.<\/p>\n
Jane Possee<\/p><\/div>\n
Jane Possee, a longtime athletics administrator and former coach, knows what it takes to be an effective leader. In 1975, she came to Rochester from Syracuse University to coach field hockey and women\u2019s basketball. In the same year, she initiated the University of Rochester\u2019s women\u2019s lacrosse team and continued to coach for the next 17 years. She\u2019s a change agent who\u2019s been involved in significant points in Athletics\u2019 history.<\/p>\n
Collegiate sports across the country were on the cusp of significant change when Possee came to Rochester. Title IX had only just launched in 1972 and colleges and universities everywhere were still figuring out how to implement the federal law\u2019s requirements. Its purpose was, and still is, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that is federally funded.<\/p>\n
\u201cTitle IX made a big difference in how female athletes are treated. In the beginning though, it was hard to change the ways things had always been done,\u201d says Possee. \u201cThe pie was only so big to support all sports, and we had to figure out what was doable and how to divide it equitably among the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time Possee started coaching women\u2019s basketball, all the women\u2019s teams had locker rooms in the Spurrier gym and the men had theirs in the Palestra, where all games were played\u2014by both the men and women. Possee went to the men\u2019s coach and the athletic director and said the women should have a locker room in the building where they play their games.<\/p>\n
Back then, the Palestra had two locker rooms on the third floor, one for the men\u2019s team and the other for the visiting team. To Possee, it made sense to give the women the visiting team\u2019s space. \u201cWe did end up getting that locker room, and the visiting teams went underneath the bleachers in an area redesigned for them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made such great strides since the 1970s and much of it can be attributed to Jane and to George VanderZwaag, who has led Athletics for the last 20 years,\u201d says Terry Gurnett, associate director (AD) of athletics. \u201cJane has a steady, rock solid commitment to women\u2019s sports that has served Rochester and our students so well.\u201d As associate AD since 2001 and women\u2019s soccer coach from 1977 to 2010, Gurnett has lived through many transformative moments in Rochester Athletics.<\/p>\n
Today, there are 23 varsity athletic teams and women\u2019s teams make up 12 of them. They include basketball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.<\/p>\n
Possee transitioned from coaching to administration in 1992. That\u2019s when she began overseeing the University\u2019s recreation program, which meant taking responsibility for intramurals, club sports, and rentals; student employment; and capital planning.<\/p>\n
In 1997, a big project came\u2014renovating what is now known as the Goergen Athletic Center, which was made possible because of a leadership gift from Robert Goergen \u201960 and his wife, Pamela, as well as support from Edmund A. Hajim \u201958 and his family. Possee led the project for Athletics.<\/p>\n
Jane Possee \u2013 Field Hockey<\/p><\/div>\n
Since then, Possee\u2019s been the point person on many Athletics\u2019 building and renovation initiatives, including the Speegle-Wilbraham Aquatic Center, the Bloch Fitness Center, and various facilities within and across the Brian F. Prince Athletic Complex. She\u2019ll take the lead on future capital improvements, too, such as renovating the Field House, the outdoor tennis courts, and the grandstands and press boxes for baseball and softball.<\/p>\n
Possee is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Goergen Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Learning, a Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Rochester Press-Radio Club\u2019s Jean Giambrone Service Award.<\/p>\n
When she isn\u2019t at work, Possee is with her family or sailing on Lake Ontario. She and her husband, Dick, have been married for 47 years and have six children and eight grandchildren. She is a former member and past president of the Board of Directors for the Sodus Junior Sailing Club, which her father started in the 1950s. She is also currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Genesee Waterways Center.<\/p>\n
Staying in touch with her former team members is important to Possee. She still connects with her first group of athletes at a reunion they hold every other year. \u201cI\u2019ve had the best students and athletes from the start,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to keep up with as many of them as I can.\u201d In 2011, a number of her former athletes established the Jane Possee Endowment for Women\u2019s Athletics, which provides perpetual support for women\u2019s sports at Rochester.<\/p>\n
With such a varied, dedicated, and recognized career in coaching and administration, Possee shares the following lessons for leaders: pay attention to the details, be a good listener, and take life one day at a time.[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”20px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1568980926576{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-top-color: #c4c4c4 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;}”]For more information about the Jane Possee Endowment for Women\u2019s Athletics, please contact Jared Longmore<\/a>, Director of Advancement for Athletics and Student Life.<\/p>\n