CANTON-The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics will present St. Lawrence University Athletic Director Margie Strait with an Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award as part of the NACDA and Affiliates annual convention in Orlando, FL.

Strait, athletic director, chair of the department of Athletics and Recreation and senior advisor to the administration, has also served St. Lawrence as a head coach of both tennis and skiing. She joined the St. Lawrence staff in 1970 as coach and instructor in physical education and recently completed her 15th year as athletic director.

The Under Armor Athletic Director of the Year program was created to honor intercollegiate directors of athletics for their commitment and administrative excellence within a campus and/or college community environment. The award spans seven divisions and annually honors 28 athletic directors (four from each division). Strait will receive her award at the NACDA and Affiliates convention in Orlando, FL on June. 15. SLU Director of Athletic Media Relations Wally Johnson will also be honored at the convention as an inductee into the College Sports Information Director's Association Hall of Fame on June 13.

"We're greatly pleased for Margie, and very proud of her as well," said St. Lawrence President William L. Fox. "As both a coach of two sports and an administrator at St. Lawrence for 43 years, she has overseen the expansion of the Saints' team offerings and athletics facilities, watched dozens of league and even national champions perform, witnessed numerous All-Americas in action, and seen hundreds of athletes arrive, grow and graduate. Always she has kept in the forefront the ideal of the student-athlete, one who comes to college not just to win, but also to learn."

Strait spent 17 seasons as women's tennis coach and eight as men's tennis coach and was the 1994 New York State Coach of the Year. She led her women's teams to three conference championships and two state titles and rebuilt the men's program to a conference champion. She coached both alpine and Nordic skiing during her St. Lawrence tenure and was recognized for her contributions to the sport by the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association.

Strait has served as a member of the executive committee of the ECAC men's and women's hockey league, the ECAC Board of Directors, and as president of the Liberty League. She was the 2009 winner of the ECAC Administrator of the Year Award and was recognized by the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association with its service award in 1999. A graduate of Cortland State with a master's degree from St. Lawrence, she was inducted into the Cortland State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.

Since taking the directorship, she has coordinated the addition of seven new athletic teams to the Saints NCAA Division III athletic program and has been involved in all phases of an extensive renovation of the University's athletic facilities. Those renovations include the completion of renovations to Appleton Arena and Burkman Gym, a new artificial turf field, a new nine-lane outdoor all-weather track, a new football field and several new practice venues. Additional projects include new office spaces, a new fitness center, a new field house, new squash and tennis facilities and a crew boathouse.

The St. Lawrence athletic program has consistently ranked among the best in the nation among Division III programs in the Learfield Cup during the past decade and Saint student-athletes have been well represented on both athletic and academic all star teams during her term as athletic director.

Margie and her husband Russ live in Waddington and are the parents of two adult children, Hawley and Wendy. They recently became grandparents.

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