Dydia DeLyser Season 2020-21
LSU’s Faculty Athletics Representative
Dr. Dydia DeLyser, LSU’s Faculty Athletics Representative, is Associate Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography and Anthropology—in fact, the NCAA requires that the FAR be a member of the faculty or an administrator holding faculty rank. Indeed, nationwide, the President or Chancellor of each college or university participating in NCAA athletics must designate one faculty member for the FAR role. DeLyser was appointed FAR by LSU’s Chancellor Sean O’Keefe in January 2007 for a renewable 3-year term.
Under NCAA rules, the Faculty Athletics Representative is one of only five individuals on campus authorized to represent the university to the NCAA, and who may cast the university’s vote on NCAA legislation (the others are the President/Chancellor, the Athletic Director, the Director of Compliance, and the Senior Woman Administrator). LSU’s FAR also represents the university to the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
On campus, the Faculty Athletics Representative serves as a critical communications link between the faculty and the Athletic Department—and vice versa. It is DeLyser, as FAR who has the responsibility to inform the Athletic Department of faculty concerns, to inform faculty of developments in athletics, and to actively participate in the development of LSU athletics policy. Further, as FAR, DeLyser serves as the senior faculty advisor to the Chancellor in the area of athletics, and reports directly to Chancellor Martin. Thus, the FAR provides advice to the Chancellor that reflects the values of the faculty—advice firmly grounded in the academic mission of the university—and in these ways, the FAR is the primary conduit for the faculty’s voice on LSU athletics.
The FAR further plays a vital strategic and tactical role in overseeing the university’s institutional responsibilities in the NCAA’s three broad areas of academic integrity (including academic reform initiatives), institutional control, and student-athlete well being. In particular, the Faculty Athletics Representative works with the offices of admissions and compliance to oversee the initial and continuing eligibility of LSU’s student athletes, with the compliance staff to ensure LSU’s compliance with all NCAA and SEC rules, and assists with inquiries into NCAA rules violations. The FAR also works with the staff in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes to monitor student athletes’ academic performance, oversees the academic integrity of our student athletes’ programs of study, and works with all on campus to ensure the fair and equal provision of academic services to student athletes.
As FAR, Dr. DeLyser serves as the primary connection between LSU faculty and LSU Athletics, and as a contact person for LSU’s student athletes. Feel free to contact her at dydia@lsu.edu, or 578-6172.
Other web resources about FARs:
http://www.ncaa.org/library/membership/far_handbook.pdf
http://www.farawebsite.org/whatis.asp
http://www.uoregon.edu/~uosenate/dirsen034/dirUS034-3/Guidelines-FAR.html
More on Dr. DeLyser:
Dydia DeLyser, an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology, serves in her second year as LSU’s Faculty Athletics Representative.
DeLyser, a native of Santa Monica, Calif., earned her bachelor’s degree in 1992 from UCLA, and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Syracuse University (in 1996 and 1998).
DeLyser arrived at LSU in August 1998 as an Instructor before becoming an assistant professor one year later. She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in August 2005.
DeLyser is a cultural-historical geographer. Her research has been both ethnographic and historical, and most of it questions how different built landscapes can help make the past meaningful in the present.
Much of her published research has focused on two different studies. One was a many-year ethnographic study of a ghost town in California (Bodie State Historic Park) where she examined how images and ideas about the American mythic West became meaningful to the tourists who visited the town. The second was an historical study that examined a 19th century novel (Ramona) and how it changed the way people understood (and still understand) southern California’s past.
Her current research concerns early women aviators and how they used their practices of flying to advance feminism in the post-suffrage era.
DeLyser teaches graduate courses in cultural geography, qualitative research, and academic and professional writing. She has also taught undergraduate courses in cultural, and urban geography, and an introductory world-regional geography course.
DeLyser is a first-generation American — her parents were Dutch immigrants and English is her second language. She also has language abilities in Russian and Spanish.
DeLyser’s hobbies include driving/riding antique cars and motorcycles. She is also a licensed pilot and co-owns a Citabria, which is a two-place aerobatic airplane.