Cronan to serve as keynote speaker for 2013 Athletic Gala

Cronan to serve as keynote speaker for 2013 Athletic Gala

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Longtime University of Tennessee athletics administrator Joan Cronan will highlight the 2013 Carson-Newman Athletic Gala as the Oct. 24 event's keynote speaker.

The Carson-Newman Athletic Gala provides coaches an opportunity to support their individual programs through table sponsors and individual seating.  Table sponsorships are $1,500 for a 10-seat table.  For more information or to reserve a table, contact Doodle Johnson at 865-471-3396 or at djohnson@cn.edu.  For individual seating, also contact Johnson. 

The doors open Oct. 24 at 6:30 p.m. at Carson-Newman's Stokely Memorial Cafeteria. 

All Athletic Gala revenue goes directly to the C-N athletic sport of one's choice.

The University of Tennessee has benefited from Cronan's keen leadership and decisiveness during her three decades of service.  The institution's athletic and academic successes are evident in her 2005 selection as Athletic Director of the year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators.

That honor followed her 2004 recognition as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics' Southeast Region Athletic Director, and as Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame's Administrator of the Year in 1998.

Cronan joined UT from South Carolina's College of Charleston, where she served in several roles for a decade.  She concluded her service there as women's athletic director, having overseen the program to its recognition as the country's best women's athletics operation in 1980.

A past president of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and vice chair of Leadership Knoxville, she is active on the boards of First Tennessee Bank and the YMCA.  She also works closely with Athletes in Action and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, for which she has served as both a local board member and a national trustee.  She is a deacon at Central Baptist Church-Bearden. 

A longtime member of the Carson-Newman family, Joan earned BS and MS degrees in physical education at LSU, where she is a member of the Alumni Hall of Distinction.  Her late husband, Dr. Tom Cronan, was a beloved C-N health, physical education and sport science faculty member from 1983-2005.  The couple has two daughters, Kristi (Mrs. Rhett Brenner) and Stacey (Mrs. Kent Bristow), and four grandchildren. 

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