Profile: Stan Nance

For the past 19 years, Stan Nance has been the friendly external face of Emerson Athletics. As interim associate dean for campus life and director of athletics, he oversees the Athletics Department.

One of his main duties is to manage the department’s public-facing events. The Athletics Golf Outing Fundraiser is an annual event that raises approximately $50,000 to enhance the overall student-athlete experience at Emerson. In a normal year, up to 100 of Emerson’s vendors participate. Nance works with Business Services and Facilities Management to contact the vendors. He also markets the event with the help of Institutional Advancement and purchases participant gifts and tournament prizes.

The annual Athletic Trust Fund reception occurs during Alumni Weekend/Emerson Week. Nance works with Alumni Relations to invite former student-athletes for light drinks and snacks in the Athletics Skybox. Approximately 40 alumni attend every year, and a number of them donate to the Athletic Trust Fund during the online event registration process.

During Athletics’ Alumni Student-Athlete Homecoming each fall, Nance manages a reception for the Heart of a Lion Award, which is given to an Emersonian who has impacted the student-athlete experience. The event is attended by about 65 alumni student-athletes and Athletics staff and coaches. Nance comes up with a list of potential honorees, purchases the award and giveaway gifts, secures the off-campus reception space, and orders the food.

One of his most enjoyable External Affairs tasks as of late is helping Institutional Advancement raise funds for a $500K School of Communication Scholarship. The funds will include a scholarship for a Journalism student in the name of Journalism Assistant Professor Michael Brown, to honor his tenure of 50+ years at Emerson. Scholarships will be given to incoming and current students from underserved populations starting in Fall 2023. So far, the committee has raised slightly under $250K.

Another of Nance’s main responsibilities is to pay the department’s 14 varsity sports game officials. Throughout the academic year, Emerson hires approximately 500 home game officials and varsity sports coordinators. Nance sets up most of the officials on an online Arbiterpay system and schedules the payments.

He works with the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department to secure permits for varsity sports games at Rotch Field. He must apply for permits for each game during the fall and spring semesters, which ensures that no other organizations can use the field during the hours of the games. Other organizations that use Rotch Field regularly include South End Soccer and Cathedral High School.

As the Athletics liaison for Undergraduate Admission, Nance coordinates all official and unofficial on-campus visits for prospective recruits. The varsity head coaches send him the itinerary of any prospective student-athlete visiting campus, and then Nance processes a meal card so the recruit and their family members can have a meal at the Dining Center. Nance also helps the coaches set up faculty interviews, class visits, and financial aid interviews.

He also oversees the operation of the Fitness Center, which has 2,100+ members and employs 4 full-time staff. He meets quarterly with the Fitness Center general manager to discuss any needs related to updated equipment and to figure out the programming for classes to be offered in the upcoming semesters. Types of classes, such as aerobics and stationary bicycling, are added or deleted to the schedule based on their popularity with members.

Nance feels at home at Emerson; he loves its small vibrant intercity campus. He noted that he enjoys working with his “extremely bright colleagues and students.” He continued, “I am a people person, so getting things done is at the forefront…meeting face to face is extremely important for that.”

Nance and his eight siblings grew up in Washington, DC. After high school, he headed to New Jersey to attend Rutgers University on a full athletic men’s basketball scholarship. He graduated with a degree in economics/business.

Prior to his arrival at Emerson, he was a Division I men’s basketball coach at Rutgers University, Northeastern University, University of Hartford, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Boston College.

Nance currently lives in Stoughton, MA, with his wife and college sweetheart, Alethea. Not surprisingly, they are big sports fans, so they enjoy attending all of the local sports games: the Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox, and Revolution.

They also love to travel and often hit the road to visit family members. Their son, Darnell, a Dartmouth College graduate, lives in Brooklyn, NY, and Nance’s family lives in the DMV region (DC, Maryland, and Virginia). Two of Nance’s favorite vacation spots are Hawaii (for the sightseeing) and Italy (for the food). He’s looking forward to his first trip to Paris later this year.

Nancy Howell (Communications and Marketing)