George H. VanderZwaag, a longtime athletic administrator at Princeton University, has been named director of athletics and recreation at the University of Rochester, effective July 1.
VanderZwaag comes to the University after serving in three different capacities at Princeton University, most recently as senior associate director of athletics. He has a strong background in NCAA and Title IX compliance issues and serves as institutional liaison for NCAA certification. His primary emphasis at Princeton is for regulatory, academic, and student affairs issues for a 38-sport varsity intercollegiate athletic program.
At Rochester, he will oversee an athletic department that has 22 varsity intercollegiate sports as well as extensive recreation and intramural sports activities.
Earlier this month, the University began a comprehensive renovation of the athletic and recreation complex. Renovation of the center, to be renamed the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center, is scheduled for completion in August 2000.
"George VanderZwaag brings impressive credentials and career experience of great success at Princeton," said Paul Burgett, University vice president and dean of students. "Enthusiasm for his appointment has been unanimous and Rochester looks forward to his leadership of our program into the 21st century."
VanderZwaag was named assistant athletic director at Princeton in 1991. He handled scheduling duties for 17 sports, administered post-season championships, and served as Princeton's compliance officer.
In 1995, he was promoted to associate director of athletics. He oversaw 37 varsity intercollegiate sports, served as the institution's compliance officer, coordinated the student-athlete advisory committee, and oversaw post-season championships. Within two years, he was promoted to the position of senior associate director of athletics.
He has coordinated championships on national, regional, and conference levels in a variety of sports, most notably men's soccer, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, swimming and diving, softball, men's tennis, indoor track and field, volleyball, field hockey, and baseball.
Currently, he serves as Princeton's coordinator for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, as the administrative liaison for Ivy League Men's and Women's Golf, and as the commissioner for the Collegiate Sprint Football League (formerly Lightweight Football). League members include Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the U.S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Naval Academy.
VanderZwaag graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He earned his master of science degree in sport management from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass., in 1989.
At the University of Massachusetts, he was a research assistant and graduate assistant in the athletic business office. As a research assistant, he worked on revisions to the textbook Law and Business of the Sports Industry by Glenn Wong and Robert Berry, for chapters pertaining to the regulation of intercollegiate athletics.
From 1989-91, he was an assistant to the athletic director for student services and operations at Tulane University in New Orleans, La. He served as an athletic department liaison with admissions, financial aid, and housing, monitored eligibility and financial aid awards, provided interpretation of NCAA legislation, and established and administered a compliance education program.
VanderZwaag succeeds Jeffrey Vennell, who has served as the University's director of sports and recreation since November 1987.
He and his wife, Kathleen, are the parents of two boys, G.W. and Michael.