M. Grace Calhoun '92, Ph.D. - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

M. Grace Calhoun '92, Ph.D.

Title:
Samuel M. Mencoff ‘78 Vice President for Athletics and Recreation
Phone:
401-863-2972
Email:
Joined Brown:
April 2021
Alma Mater:
Brown '92

M. Grace Calhoun '92, Ph.D. began her tenure at Brown University as the Chancellor Samuel M. Mencoff ‘78 Vice President for Athletics and Recreation on April 19, 2021, following ten years of transformative success as the director of athletics and recreation at the University of Pennsylvania and director of athletics at Loyola Chicago. The transition to Brown was a homecoming for Calhoun, having graduated magna cum laude from Brown in 1992 while competing as a varsity athlete on the track and field team.

Reporting directly to President Christina H. Paxson and serving as a member of the president’s cabinet, Calhoun ushered in a new era at Brown during her first season on College Hill with a brand refresh. Volleyball, women's soccer, and men's lacrosse all won regular-season Ivy League Championships, with women’s soccer and men’s lacrosse hosting NCAA first-round contests at home.

Brown finished the year 95th in the Learfield Directors Cup Standings, its highest finish since 2015-16, while improving the sense of the student-athlete community and the quality of experience for all student-athletes.

Calhoun immediately launched the Division into her two passions: holistic development through sport and physical activity, which are part of every Brown community member’s personal wellness equation. She rolled out the Division’s “Spectrum of Engagement,” which offers broad-based opportunities for the campus community, from 34 varsity sports, a club-sports program with 38 sports, extensive intramural offerings, and a recreation program that has doubled in activity under her leadership. Leveraging athletics and recreation to create a spirited and engaged campus, Calhoun launched initiatives like the student-led Hype Squad and the Victory Club to entertain alumni and key supporters while working to establish new traditions and shared experiences that further bond students, alumni, and community members to Brown.

Calhoun’s commitment to the student-athlete experience led to foreign trips for seven varsity programs, a Toyko Dream Bowl coached by Brown football, and two Division-wide impact tours: the 2023 Courts for Kids trip to Panama and 2024 Student-Athlete Impact Tour to Spain and Portugal. Calhoun launched the formation of the wellness and performance ecosystem and expanded the career exploration programming available at Brown and the Bruno Exchange, Brown’s official Name, Image and Likeness partner.

Many impactful facility upgrades have been made, including the addition of the 295 Lloyd Avenue space and the groundbreaking on the Indoor Turf Facility.

Regarded as a national leader in collegiate athletics with nearly three decades of experience strengthening programs for student-athletes and steering national discussions around the future of college athletics, Calhoun served as Chair of the NCAA Division I Council from June 2019 through June 2021. She helped lead the NCAA through the pandemic and one of the most tumultuous periods in collegiate sports history. Calhoun represented the Council on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and NCAA association-wide Board of Governors, where she played an important role in voicing membership perspectives on key issues confronting collegeathletics. She co-chaired the Legislative Solutions Group, addressing Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) strategies for the NCAA, and guided discussions around transfers, financial aid, infractions, and the enforcement landscape.

Calhoun was inducted into the 2020 Game Changers: Women in Sports Business class by the Sports Business Journal in recognition of her national leadership. She was also recognized with the 2019 Under Armour Division I FCS Administrator of the Year Award by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the 2017 Division I FCS Administrator of the Year Award by Women Leaders in College Sports.

Calhoun served a seven-year tenure as the T. Gibbs Kane, Jr. W'69 Director of Athletics and Recreation at the University of Pennsylvania from 2014-21. In this role, she led the University’s 33 varsity athletics programs, 38 club programs, and broad-based intramural and recreational offerings for students, faculty, and staff. During Calhoun’s tenure, the Division of Athletics and Recreation grew in varsity sport competitiveness, innovative programming, strong campus collaborations, and the positioning of recreation as a cornerstone of community wellness.

All-sport performance in regular-season and championship competition was some of the best in Penn’s history, ranking as one of the country's top 75 Division I athletics programs. Penn teams won 27 Ivy League or conference championships in 16 different sports, three individual national titles, and three national runner-up team finishes.

Calhoun developed a strategic plan for Penn Athletics that focused on a partnership between athletics and academics at the University. These initiatives included the Wharton School to build leadership opportunities, a program in sports performance with Penn Medicine, and a civic engagement program in conjunction with Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships. She committed to diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism, commissioning a racial justice task force devoted to this work.

In the club sports space, Calhoun built the prominence of recreation and club sports as an integral part of campus wellness. Penn provided high-level opportunities to over 1,500 club-sport student-athletes and over 6,000 intramural participants. Calhoun oversaw the Pottruck Center, the No. 2 ranked fitness center nationally, and the Fox Fitness Center, which combined provided more than 5,000 recreation classes annually, with more than 875,000 annual visits to these facilities.

Calhoun took Penn Athletics to new heights with fundraising and revenue generation. Under Calhoun’s leadership, Penn Athletics launched the “Game Onward” fundraising campaign, which surpassed its $150M campaign goal. Beyond building or renovating five athletics facilities in the campaign, Calhoun more than doubled the size of Penn’s athletics endowment and increased annual fundraising to historic highs, including a top-five national performance in raising $63.4M in 2018-19.

Calhoun has a wealth of NCAA governance and national association service spanning multiple decades. She served as the chair of the NCAA’s Strategic Vision and Planning Committee; chair of the NCAA Division I Awards, Benefits, and Financial Aid Cabinet; chair of the NCAA Research Committee; vice-chair of the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee; and on the Infractions Referral Committee for the NCAA’s major infractions process. Calhoun has served as a member of the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance, NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport Committee, and NCAA Division I Track and Field Committee.

Calhoun has also served on the Board of Women Leaders in College Sports as the chair of the Ivy League Directors of Athletics, the chair of the Philadelphia Big 5 ADs, and vice-chair of the Philadelphia Sports Congress. Calhoun arrived at Penn from Loyola University Chicago, where she was director of athletics and assistant vice president, credited with setting in motion Loyola’s men’s basketball Final Four run in 2018. Before Loyola, Calhoun served as associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at Indiana University, associate executive director of the Patriot League conference, and associate athletic director at Dartmouth College. She began her athletics administrative work by serving four years at the University of Florida and two years at St. Francis University.

A 1992 magna cum laude graduate of Brown University with a degree in electrical engineering, Calhoun competed on the track and field team. Calhoun later earned a master's degree in exercise and sports sciences, a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Florida, and an MBA from Lehigh University.

Calhoun and her husband Jason, a PGA golf professional and the current Director of Golf at Brown, have four daughters: Alexandra (Lexy) and Madeline (Mady), members of the Brown women's golf and women’s basketball teams, respectively, and Class of 2026, Eleanor (Ella), and MaryKate (Kate).

Achievements During the Calhoun Era

Varsity Conference Championships (6)
2021 Women's Soccer
2021 Volleyball
2022 Men's Lacrosse
2022 Women's Soccer
2023 Women's Soccer
2024 Men's Crew

Club/Rec Conference Championships (13)

Men’s Rugby (2)
- 2022 NCR Division I National Champions (15s)
- 2024 NCR Division I National Champions (15s)
Squash (8)
- 2023 CSA National Championship, Coed Team Champions, Women’s Team Champion, Mixed Doubles Champion
- 2024 CSA National Championship, Coed Team Champions
- 2025 CSA National Championship, Women's Team Champion
Men’s Ultimate (1)
- 2024 USA Ultimate College Champions
Men’s Fencing (1)
- 2022 Men’s Fencing USACFC National Champions
Taekwondo (1)
- 2025 Co-National Champions

National Championships (5)

Women’s Rugby (3)
- 2023 National Collegiate Rugby Women’s Premier Cup
- 2024 National Collegiate Rugby Women’s Premier Cup
- 2025 National Collegiate Rugby Women’s Premier Cup
Men’s Rugby (2)
- 2022 NCR Division I National Champions (15s)
- 2024 NCR Division I National Champions (15s)

Individual conference champions during the Calhoun era (19)