When Grace Calhoun left the University of Pennsylvania to take charge of the athletics and recreation program at Brown University, a lot of people asked why.
And with good reason.
During her seven years as director of athletics at Penn, she had burnished her reputation as a strong administrator capable of juggling her responsibilities at Penn with her duties as a member of various NCAA committees and as chair of the NCAA Division 1 Council from 2019 to 2021. Penn teams won 27 Ivy League or conference championships in 16 different sports. Three Penn athletes won individual titles, and three teams finished second in national competitions.
She promoted club sports, intramurals and recreation in sparkling facilities. She led a fundraising campaign that beat its $150 million goal. With Calhoun driving the Quakers bus, Penn athletics were on a roll.
“My family [her husband Jason and their daughters Alexandra, Madeline, Eleanor and MaryKate] was happy. I could have finished my career there,” she told me recently.
But schools in Power Five conferences noticed and started calling. She listened.
“I was at a juncture,” she said. “Would I enjoy that as a next chapter?”
Then Brown President Christina Paxson called the 1992 magna cum laude electrical engineering alumna “to help her think through what Brown needed in its next leader.” A track athlete at Brown, Calhoun knew the university. In addition to her stint at Penn, she also spent time at Dartmouth when her husband was a PGA club pro in Hanover. So she knew the Ivy League.
“I was so impressed with her as a leader. In terms of my career, the program at Brown may not have made sense to a lot of people, but the more President Paxson and I talked, I realized what an opportunity to come back to my alma mater and finish up,” Calhoun said.
“It was less about finding the next challenge than if we made one more move, it would have to be something really compelling. My kids were at a pivotal age. I was in a really good place. I enjoyed the people I was working with. It would have to have been something that pulled me away. Brown was that opportunity that pulled me away.”
As Vice President for Athletics and Recreation, she reports directly to Paxson and is a member of the President’s Cabinet.
This is the perfect point in Grace Calhoun’s story to explain the importance of her family. She has worked in athletics administration at the University of Florida, St. Francis University, Dartmouth, Indiana University and Loyola University Chicago. She also did a stint with the Patriot League. Along the way — after realizing she wasn’t passionate about electrical engineering — she earned a master’s degree in exercise and sports sciences and a doctorate in higher education administration from Florida and an MBA from Lehigh.
That’s a lot of moving around.
“I am very lucky to have a husband and four children who understand my career,” she said. “College athletics is a lifestyle, not a job. I work a ton of evenings and weekends. I haven’t been there for every birthday party,” she said.
She laughed and mentioned they ”live by four markers and a wall calendar on the kitchen wall. We each have a color.”
“My husband and kids have had to be all in. Jason is fantastic with people. He never forgets a face and has been a huge asset to me. He is a walking encyclopedia. He does not forget a person. How lucky am I to have a husband who appreciates the job and embraces the job. He has given up great jobs to follow me. We have taken on roles we needed to make it work.”
They have had help from their parents and high school and college kids but have never had a nanny.
“We have a lot of funny stories when something goes wrong,” she said.
This latest move has Alexandra (Lexi) and Madeline (Mady) in their first year at Brown and playing for the women’s basketball team, Eleanor (Ella) at Barrington High and MaryKate (Kate) in elementary school in Barrington. Jason is director of golf in the Brown club sports and recreation program.
At Brown, Calhoun saw a program that had fallen behind its Ivy peers in budget and staffing levels. Many teams were not competitive for various reasons. And she noticed a divide between athletes and the rest of the student body.
“I saw so much opportunity,” she said, excitement obvious in her tone. Her passion for a holistic approach to sports, physical fitness, recreation and mental health is producing results. In her first full academic year, Brown won Ivy League championships in volleyball, women’s soccer and men’s lacrosse, hosted NCAA games in soccer and lacrosse, and finished 95th in the annual Learfield Directors Cup national standings for intercollegiate athletics programs, its best ranking since 2016. Still, it was only fifth of the eight Ivy League schools. Last fall the women’s soccer team won the Ivy championship again, its third in a row. This winter the women’s hockey team is 8-16-1, its most victories in a season since 2012.
“We are going to be more competitive,” Calhoun vowed. She is determined to give teams more tools to succeed. She has hired seven new coaches. She is advocating for an indoor turf facility to allow baseball, softball and lacrosse players an opportunity to train during the winter and chilly early spring. And for another hardwood court to supplement the single court in the Pizzitola Center that now accommodates men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and wrestling. She would like to see the lobby of the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, home of Brown indoor track, transformed into a warm and welcoming space for varsity athletes. And she would like to improve the tennis courts, indoors and outdoors.
Her budget has increased so she can address recruiting, nutrition, apparel and training space needs.
On the recreation front, 83 percent of undergrads are taking advantage of workout facilities at the refreshed Nelson Fitness Center, a considerable increase. Calhoun wants students to feel welcomed, comfortable and included. For example, Brown now offers an intramural soccer section for people who have never played soccer but want to learn.
Grace Calhoun, the electrical engineer turned athletics administrator, is pushing an ambitious agenda at Brown but an agenda she is convinced is within reach.
“I have never worked harder in my life,” she said. “I’m so excited.”
