2015 ECAC Award Recipients

DUDLEY, Mass. – Former Nichols College Director of Athletics Charlie Robert has been named the recipient of the 2015 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) President's Award.
 
Robert will be honored along with five others at the Honors Luncheon as part of the 2015 ECAC Convention, Conference and Trade Show held September 27-29 at the Matrix Conference & Banquet Center in Danbury, Conn.
 
The ECAC will recognize 33 student-athletes, administrators, institutions and officials at the Honors Luncheon to be held on Monday, Sept. 28. The event will begin with a reception at 11 a.m. followed by lunch and awards at 12 p.m. The mission of the ECAC Awards Program is to recognize the accomplishments of the Conference's esteemed student-athletes, administrators and others who have represented the ECAC with distinction.
 
Robert spent 18 years as the Director of Athletics at Nichols College. The 2008 ECAC Jostens Female Administrator of the Year, Robert took over the helm of the Nichols athletics department on November 9, 1998.
 
Under Robert's leadership, Nichols won 13 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) titles, three ECAC Northeast Hockey titles, and hosted the 2011 NCAA DIII Field Hockey championship. 
 
In 2014-15 – Robert's final season at the helm of the department – the Bison captured a conference championship in the fall (men's soccer), winter (men's ice hockey), and spring (men's tennis) for the first time in school history. The Bison won the ECAC Northeast championship for the third time in seven seasons while men's tennis captured its fourth-straight CCC Championship. They also advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons.
 
Most recently, Robert was instrumental in the expansion of the athletic facilities, some of which were still under construction at the time of her promotion. This fall, Nichols unveiled its new tennis courts, weight room, and football locker room. Before the close of the calendar year, the college will open a new fitness center, athletic training room, and several varsity locker rooms.
 
During her final three academic years as AD, six programs – field hockey, men's basketball, men's golf, women's and men's tennis, and men's soccer – advanced to the CCC Championship. In 2010, the men's soccer and women's tennis teams won CCC titles for the first time in program history, and the men's golf team added its third conference crown (2001, 2007). Overall, the men's tennis team was been crowned CCC champion six times (2000, 2001, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) during Robert's tenure while the women's soccer (2002) and field hockey (2009) programs also claimed conference titles.
 
During the 2007-08 season, Nichols won the Worcester College Cup for the first time in the 10-year history of the trophy, awarded annually to the most successful varsity athletics program among eight colleges in Worcester County by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Since then, the Bison have posted a combined overall win percentage hovering around the .500 mark each year.
 
Robert helped oversee the construction of a new athletic center in 2000 and a new multi-purpose stadium, Michael J. Vendetti Field, in 2005. An advocate for women's sports, Robert added women's lacrosse and women's ice hockey as varsity sports.

A member of the NCAA Division III Management Council, Robert has chaired the Membership and Student Legislative Relief Committees. She has served on NCAA sport committees and concluded her terms in field hockey and women's lacrosse as the chair. Robert presently serves as the Chairperson for the Colleges of Worcester Consortium Directors of Athletics and is on the Advisory Board for the Woman's LeadHERship Symposium for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. She has been a member of the ECAC Field Hockey and Officiating Negotiating Committees and serves the CCC as the women's basketball and SWA liaison.

The head field hockey coach at Union College (N.Y.) from 1983-96, Robert was named the New York Collegiate Female Coach of the Year in 1988. In addition, she coached at the Empire State Games from 1977-89. Robert guided the field hockey team at Nichols from 1996-2002, posting 62 victories during that span – the third highest total in school history.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, Robert went on to earn her Master of Science degree in sport management administration from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She was a four-year player and captain in field hockey and lacrosse for the Red Dragons.