Dr. Rhonda Beemer, who serves as the faculty athletics representative (FAR) at Northwest Missouri State University, joined 15 of her peers from throughout the country this fall at the fifth Division II FAR Advanced Leadership Institute for professional development as well as to create a resource to benefit their peers and the division at large. 

“This was an amazing collaborative leadership opportunity for me,” Beemer said. “These NCAA events have allowed me to grow as a professional and to better serve the needs of our students and my colleagues.”

The advanced institute, Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 in Indianapolis, included presentations and discussions covering leadership, strategic communications skills, divisional and NCAA-wide updates as well as how Division II FARs can better position themselves with opportunities provided by the new NCAA constitution. It designates FARs “as the principal point of contact to whom student-athletes can report any action, activity or behavior by anyone associated with athletics programs inconsistent with this Constitution’s principle of student-athlete health and well-being.” 

Beemer was appointed Northwest’s FAR in 2019 and is responsible for a number of activities related to institutional control of intercollegiate athletics at the University. A member of the Northwest faculty since 2015, she also serves as an associate professor of health and physical education in Northwest’s School of Health Science and Wellness and is vice president of the University’s Faculty Senate.