On Nov. 10, Lawrence University President Mark Burstein announced the appointment of incoming Director of Athletics Christyn Abaray. Abaray comes to Lawrence from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Last spring, current Director of Athletics and Head Hockey Coach Mike Szkodzinski announced that he was stepping down from the role to focus more on coaching hockey. Szkodzinski has been Lawrence’s director of athletics since 2009.
Abaray was one of several candidates being interviewed after a national search was conducted following Szkodzinski’s announcement in May. She brings many years of experience to the job as she worked for eight years as the associate athletic director at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and has been the athletic director at Buena Vista since 2012. Both colleges are private liberal arts schools with Division III programs, giving Abaray a plethora of experience at academic institutions similar to Lawrence.
At Buena Vista, Abaray was instrumental in implementing many changes to the facilities and athletic programs. Hopefully, her experience and knowledge of athletics at a liberal arts school will lead to improvements of Lawrence athletics. Abaray will take over her role as athletic director in April, after which she will oversee all 22 varsity teams and a staff of more than 50 coaches.
Look out for a more detailed profile on Abaray in an upcoming issue.