FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Pair of GNAC student-athletes
hired through Division III funding
WINTHROP, Mass. – The Great Northeast Athletic Conference is pleased to announce the hiring of Saint Joseph's College of Maine women's soccer's Emma Auclair and University of Saint Joseph (CT) women's tennis' Maria Porth, as announced by the GNAC office on Wednesday.
Both in their senior years, the two join the league staff in remote roles as Marketing & Multimedia Specialists. They will assist with social media campaigns and graphic design while working in conjunction with the GNAC SAAC Commissioner's Council, helping deliver the conference's SAAC messaging to the conference's 3,500+ student-athletes.
The two will also be able to serve as administrators at GNAC championships and other conference events, along with the opportunity to attend the 2022 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis.
The hires of Auclair and Porth were made possible by the NCAA Division III's Diversity Funding for conference offices, as approved by the D3 Strategic Planning and Finance Committee (SPFC). This now marks the sixth consecutive year the GNAC has taken advantage of the D3 funding.
After a membership-wide search by GNAC Assistant Commissioner for Strategic Communications Michael Ghika, Auclair and Porth were deemed ideal fits for the roles.
Auclair, a Kittery, Maine resident, has appeared in 43 games for the Monks women's soccer program, logging 12 starts while collecting four goals and two assists for 10 career points. For nearly three years, she has served as a SJC Sports Information Office student worker under the guidance of Associate AD Corey McCarthy and Operations & Sports Info Manager Megan Dunlap, and assists with gameday events as well. The Communications major also helped lead SJC's Division III Week this past spring and has been crucial in the promotion of Monks Athletics.
"I'm honored to be selected by the GNAC to become one of its Marketing & Multimedia Specialist interns," said Auclair. "I am looking forward to bringing new ideas to the table and working with everyone involved in the conference."
Porth helps epitomize the D3 way by having been a part of three collegiate sports programs. Prior to arriving at USJ, she was a track & field student-athlete at Manhattanville in Purchase, N.Y., where she also was a gameday communications assistant and orientation leader. At Saint Joseph, she was a women's basketball team member during the cancelled COVID-19 season, and this fall is suiting up for the Blue Jays' women's tennis program. A local native of West Hartford, Conn., the Child Studies major is an athletics communications student worker under Assistant AD Josh Ingham and Assistant SID Darren Ayotte.
"I am really looking forward to working with the GNAC office," said Porth. "We have begun discussions on potential projects and I am really excited to network with other GNAC members and SID offices."
Through the same grant funding, past interns working for the GNAC included Albertus Magnus College's Megan Doyle last academic year, Suffolk University's Samantha Jacques in 2020, Emmanuel College's Anna Stanley in 2019, Lasell University's Kelsey Hagan in 2018, and Saint Joseph's of Maine's Sarah Comtois in 2017.
The NCAA Division III office's giveback to the D3 membership and conference offices comes in many gracious forms that the GNAC is grateful for. In addition to the GNAC receiving this undergrad grant each of the last six years since its creation, Commissioner Joe Walsh has also applied for and received the D3 Ethnic Minority and Women's Internship Grant five times, with GNAC Assistant to the Commissioner Julio Barosso currently fulfilling that two-year internship and leading the GNAC SAAC efforts.
Auclair and Porth will serve in the role through the 2021-22 academic year.
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 14 member institutions and over 3,500 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
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