Associate Athletics Director of Compliance
Compliance-office leadership, staff and assigned-sport supervision, NCAA Division I transition processes, athletics aid administration, and department-wide technology implementation.
Higher education. Law. Athletics.
Shawn WaltzJ.D., Ph.D.
Clear decisions.
Stronger institutions.
Increased Success.
I connect the details of collegiate athletics compliance with the broader work of university leadership, policy, and student success.
Practical experience.
Research-informed perspective.
Collegiate athletics complianceInstitutional governanceStudent-athlete success
Profile
The rule.
The institution.
The person.
Good compliance starts with careful interpretation. It succeeds when people, records, and responsibilities work together.
My work spans more than a decade in higher education and intercollegiate athletics, from academic advising and NCAA eligibility certification to compliance leadership and cross-campus coordination. I bring a Juris Doctor and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration to questions that sit between regulation, institutional policy, and everyday operations.
I have worked with coaches, student-athletes, academic departments, registrars, financial aid teams, and university leadership. My focus is straightforward: make complex requirements understandable, build dependable processes, and keep student success at the center of the decision.
10+ yearsHigher education experience
16 sportsDivision I eligibility certification
J.D. + Ph.D.Law and university leadership
Expertise
From interpretation
to implementation.
The areas where my operational experience and research perspective come together.
NCAA compliance & eligibility
Incoming, continuing, and transfer eligibility; academic certification; transfer-credit review; waiver preparation; and coordination with NCAA and conference offices.
- Eligibility certification
- Transfer evaluation
- Academic waivers
- APR & GSR reporting
Financial aid & student support
Athletics grant-in-aid processes, scholarship tracking, permissible aid limits, and coordination across financial aid, the bursar, academic services, and athletics.
- Athletics aid administration
- Scholarship monitoring
- Academic advising
- Student-athlete support
Governance, policy & institutional risk
Policy interpretation, leadership communication, NCAA Division I transition processes, NIL guidance, and the assignment of clear responsibilities across campus.
- Institutional control
- Regulatory interpretation
- NIL guidance
- Cross-campus coordination
Research, teaching & systems
Legal and policy research, higher education law instruction, and the practical use of compliance and student-information systems to improve documentation and decision-making.
- Legal research & writing
- Higher education law
- Banner
- ARMS & Teamworks
Experience
A career built
across campus.
Compliance leadership, academic operations, teaching, and public service.
Director of Compliance
Led daily compliance operations, monitored eligibility and transfers, prepared academic waivers, and coordinated NCAA academic reporting and campus education.
NCAA Athletic Certification Officer
Certified eligibility across 16 Division I sports, evaluated transfer credit, monitored athletics financial aid, and worked with academic and administrative partners on student records.
Academic advising & higher education law
Supported student-athletes at the University of New Orleans and the University of South Dakota. Taught higher education law, school law, sociology, and student-athlete first-year seminars.
Administrative Law Judge
Conducted fact-finding hearings in reemployment assistance cases, evaluated testimony and evidence, and issued rulings under Florida law.
Education
Two disciplines.
One institutional perspective.
- Juris Doctor
- Mitchell Hamline School of Law 2025
- Ph.D., Higher Education Administration
- University of New Orleans 2022
- M.S., Demography
- Florida State University 2011
- B.S., Political Science & Sociology
- Florida State University 2009
Selected writing
Questions worth
examining closely.
Scholarship at the intersection of collegiate athletics, education policy, and law.
Working manuscript
Expressive Association & Conference Governance
Expressive Association, State Action, and an Athletics Conference’s Right to Discipline Public Universities
Research on conference authority, public-university membership, and the constitutional questions raised by athletics governance.
Published scholarship / Educational Policy
Dual Enrollment Programs: Litigation and Equity
Coauthored with S. L. Nelson
An examination of litigation and equity in programs that bridge secondary and postsecondary education.
View publication (opens in a new tab)Research manuscript
International Student-Athletes & the Employment Model
Legal hurdles in the changing business of collegiate athletics
Research on the intersection of international student participation and proposals to treat collegiate athletes as employees.
Additional interests: transfer-student success, learning disabilities and NCAA eligibility, and the relationship between policy and institutional practice.
Contact
Let’s put good
questions to work.
For conversations about athletics compliance, higher education leadership, teaching, or research collaboration.
shawnjwaltz@gmail.com