Hanging in Athletic Director Ken Ralph’s office is a picture of him and President Shirley Ann Jackson hugging and smiling. Ralph is one of the nominees for 2003 Poly Person of the Year, and though only in his second year has already made quite a mark on RPI with his efforts to pass amendment 65-1 in the fall and winter.
Last fall, the NCAA was gearing up to pass Proposal 65, part of which would have denied Division III schools such as RPI the ability to give scholarships to D-I athletes, like those in the men’s hockey program. Ralph worked closely with President Jackson and the presidents of eight other schools to pass Amendment 65-1, which changed Proposal 65 to allow D-III schools with D-I scholarships already in place to continue those programs.
All of which means Ralph was instrumental in the effort to save RPI men’s hockey. He and President Jackson communicated with every athletic director who would be voting on 65-1 and analyzed what the mood of the floor would be when 65-1 was voted on.
“I crafted the floor strategy for the convention, and I was the one who got to decide who was going to speak and when,” said Ralph. His decision to let President Jackson deliver the opening message and let the other presidents outflank the objections with rebuttals was a winning strategy.
Ralph does his job with a direct, friendly attitude. “My day typically has a lot of face-to-face meetings. I think athletics is a service organization; I think the best way to create good relationships is to meet with people face-to-face, so we have a lot of face-to-face meetings, a lot of interactions with other organizations on campus,” he said. As the athletic director, Ralph’s position is ultimately about connecting with people and he does this with apparent ease.
When asked what his favorite part of the job is, Ralph replied without hesitation: “The interaction with the students. Far and away. Far and away. If I ever get to the point where that’s not my favorite part of the job, I’ll go find something else to do. I’ve told people since I started here the best thing about Rensselaer is the quality of the students I’ve come in contact with.” More than anything else, Ralph makes his job about the students. He sees athletics as providing a service to the students, and he routinely seeks athlete input on which way a certain project or program will go.
That philosophy has directed Ralph to get behind projects such as the Harkness Field renovations, which will see improved facilities in place by the start of next semester. It also helped him deal with the passing of women’s hockey coach Bill Cahill, and the incredible loss to both the men’s and women’s teams. Ralph spoke directly to the women’s hockey team, breaking the news to them early that morning. In addition to the other coaches and other people the players could talk to, Ralph helped provide closure when it was most needed.
Ralph has overseen the start of several new athletics faculty, including John Burke as the new women’s hockey coach, men’s soccer coach Adam Clinton, men’s lacrosse coach Tom Korrie, Pat DelMonico as offensive line coach for men’s football, administrative specialist Paula Monahan, and Leslie Khachadourian as both women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse coach. Ralph is relatively new himself, which could have made such an influx disastrous, but Ralph is managing it with his usual cheer.
Ralph always has a smile on his face, and the energy he brings to his job seems to have energized athletics at RPI.
