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Dana L. Harmon |
Director of Physical Education, Recreation, and Athletics dharmon@wpi.edu 508-831-5243 508-831-5775 (Fax) |
Dana L . Harmon has been the Director of Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics at WPI since July, 2002. She is WPI's sixth athletic director and the first woman to serve in that role.
Harmon oversees WPI's athletic program, which includes 20 Division III varsity sports, a physical education department, intramurals, and club sports, as well as a health, wellness, and recreation center. Nearly 60 percent of the University's students participate in its sports and intramural programs.
In the past seven years, the Department of Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics has been enhanced and expanded on all levels, including: new physical education classes being introduced; club sports and intramurals receiving improved support and organization; and the athletic program enjoying great success, including a 20 percent improvement in the overall winning percentage.
This athletic success resulted in WPI winning three of the last five Worcester College Cups, emblematic of the top athletic program amongst the Worcester Area colleges (including Anna Maria, Assumption, Becker, Clark, Fitchburg State, Holy Cross, Nichols, Worcester State, and WPI).
Under Harmon's leadership, the university renovated Alumni Field during the summer of 2007. The complex now features the same turf field now in use at Gillette Stadium (home of the New England Patriots), new bleachers and press box on the west side of the field, a scoreboard, and a field lighting system. The existing eight-lane track was resurfaced and named in honor of legendary coach Merl Norcross. This state-of-the-art outdoor sports facility is the home of intercollegiate field hockey, football, soccer, and track and field, and will provide an improved facility for club sports, intramural programs, and recreational use by the WPI community. The upgraded stadium will allow WPI to host championships at the local, regional, and national levels.
Current project planning includes the development of a new recreation center for the university.
Upon her appointment, the late Bernard H. Brown, WPI Vice President of Student Affairs, said the following: "Dana Harmon will bring valuable experience, professional integrity, and a commitment to academic excellence to the WPI Athletics Department. Dana's belief in the Division III athletic philosophy, as well as WPI's academic mission, will offer great vision for the future of our physical education, recreation, and athletics programs. Through Dana's leadership, I fully expect WPI's great athletic tradition to continue as will the further enhancement of the athletic experience for all our student athletes."
Prior to her appointment at WPI, Dana had been with Wellesley College since 1993, starting as assistant director of athletics for finance/events. In 1998, she became the college's associate director of athletics for finance/events. Then from September 2000 to March 2001, she served as Wellesley's Acting Director of Athletics. .
Harmon had been responsible for helping to build a very successful Division III sports program at Wellesley. In her last eight years at Wellesley, Wellesley won 32 conference championships with 20 teams qualifying for ECAC championships, winning four. Another 11 teams earned NCAA post-season championship berths, with three teams reaching the Final Four.
Prior to Wellesley, Harmon was an assistant to the athletic director at Mount Holyoke College in 1992-93. While at Mount Holyoke, she also served as an assistant women's basketball coach. From 1988 to 1992, she was an internal auditor for Provident Bancorp in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Harmon is a 1987 graduate of Bellarmine University (then Bellarmine College) in Louisville, Kentucky, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. In 1994, she received her master's degree in Sport Management at UMass-Amherst.
A native of Cincinnati, Dana was a four-sport star at Anderson
High School. She so excelled in basketball, soccer, softball, and
track that she was named an inaugural inductee into the High
School's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990. Dana is still that school's
all-time leading point scorer in girls' basketball.