Elon's Faculty Athletics Representative Vicki Hightower has been honored by the Southern Conference as one of 11 recipients of the league's 2008 Distinguished Service Award.
Hightower, a computer science professor at Elon for more than two decades, was named Faculty Athletics Representative in the fall of 1990. Her 18 years of service have been marked by dedication to the principle of student-athletes focusing on academics first and athletics second, as well as a deep love of sport. Over the course of her experience as a Faculty Athletics Representative, Hightower has been active in NCAA leadership. She has served on the NCAA Initial Eligibility Waivers Committee at both the Division I and Division II levels. She has been an active member of the Southern Conference softball and baseball committees in addition to serving on the Southern Conference Constitution and Bylaws Revision Committee and the Resolutions Committee. Hightower has been an active member of the Faculty Athletics Representative Association (FARA). She served as the Secretary/Treasurer of FARA from 2003 until 2007. She also developed and maintained the FARA website until this past year.
“The Distinguished Service Award honors select individuals who have gone above and beyond the call to help Southern Conference institutions better achieve their goals to the benefit of thousands of student-athletes,” said Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino. “We sincerely appreciate their efforts and are happy to recognize the award recipients with this honor.”