Therese
Quigley
Director, McMaster Athletics & Recreation
A well-known leader around the athletic community, Therese Quigley has
dedicated most of her energy to develop programs and services for students
and student athletes to benefits today and into the future. Therese’s
involvements range from coaching various sport teams, to teaching in the
former school of physical education and athletics, to currently the Director
of Athletic and Recreation in McMaster University. She has also chaired
many boards from World University Games women’s soccer championship
to vice president of the World Cycling Championships to various bid committees
and other championship committees. Therese holds the World University
Women Soccer Championship held here at McMaster in 1993 as a milestone
for Women’s sport at McMaster, and many of the McMaster staff, played
an instrumental role in the advancement of International women’s
soccer prior to the sanctioning of women’s soccer by the International
Olympics Committee. The amalgamation of the OUAA and the OWIAA, Former
Ontario University sport organizations organized based on gender was another
landmark in the history of interuniversity sport which influenced the
role of women in leadership roles within university sport. Within five
years of the amalgamation and Therese’s role as president of OWIAA,
some 40% of the appointments of athletic directors in Ontario have been
women. To Therese, sport is a vehicle for young men and women to be active
in the community and contribute to a greater sense of community. She believes
that within all of us there is leadership potential that needs the right
environment to be nurtured and to be inspired. To be empowered to make
a difference is a culture that she feels universities are responsible
for creating—to make a difference is now the choice of each individual.