On Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) year-end ‘Honour Awards’ banquet in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Algoma University’s (AU) Maria Coccimiglio made history, being the first AU Varsity staff to receive an Honour Award – she was awarded the OUA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Award of Excellence.
Maria has shown commendable dedication to advancing knowledge and education surrounding EDI issues. Through her role, she has actively raised awareness on our social channels, developing educational content to further encompass how EDI is a pivotal aspect of sport. She has walked new student-athletes through EDI discussions at every athlete orientation, and also assists in coordinating ongoing training for student-athletes and staff.
In her three years of service, Maria has been instrumental in developing and implementing programs that contribute to a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment on campus and within local sports programs. She developed Algoma Thunderbird’s EDIB Athletics Handbook (reviewed by AU’s EDI Department) to address EDI topics through the lens of sport. She also acknowledged the struggles with identity student-athletes face after sport, and created the LAVA Resource Tool in collaboration with Dr. Arthur Perlini to address this issue.
Maria’s commitment to underrepresented members of the school community is evident through her active engagement in mentorship and sponsorship initiatives. She goes above and beyond to support individuals, fostering an environment where everyone has the opportunity to succeed within the profession. In order to further promote relationships throughout the institution, she has collaborated with the AU Students Union (AUSU) for Pride Month initiatives (e.g., Thrift Shop Pop Up at the GLC and supporting the AUSU Food Pantry), local organizations (e.g., coordinating the GLC as a drop off for our local period drive), and our EDI Department.
Maria is able to take a lead on our EDI initiatives, events, and game days. She coordinates our WE ARE ONE campaigns, in which we have been able to support the Shingwauk Anishinaabe Students Association Scholarship and the ACCANO Scholarship. She has also planned initiatives surrounding Movember to draw attention to men’s mental health. Maria is currently a doctoral student at Ontario Tech, and is planning on researching resilience and motivation of student-athletes throughout the pandemic in both athletic and academic contexts.
Maria continues to play a huge role within our department, as we continue to further grow our Athletics programs and we are proud of everything she has accomplished. We, as an Athletics Department, look forward to continuing our work with our athletes, coaches and ADMIN staff to highlight the importance of EDI within our Athletics Department.
Source: Algoma Thunderbirds
