Pierre Arsenault, director of athletics and recreation at Mount Allison University, has been appointed vice-chair of the Board of Directors for U SPORTS. The vice-chair is a newly-created officer position for the national organization.

“I’m honoured to take on this new role as vice-chair with U SPORTS,” says Arsenault. “I’ve enjoyed working with university presidents and athletics directors across the country as part of the U SPORTS board over the past year and look forward to building on these experiences and continuing to represent Mount Allison with the organization.”

U SPORTS (formerly the Canadian Interuniversity Sport or CIS) is the national brand of university sports in Canada, representing 56 schools and over 20,000 student-athletes. The organization’s Board of Directors consists of four university presidents and four university athletic directors, each representing a different region across the country.

As vice-chair for U SPORTS, Arsenault acts as the primary liaison between members and the chief executive officer, serves on the Human Resources Committee, and provides ongoing support to the chair of the Board. The appointment is for one year.

Arsenault also currently serves on the board for the Atlantic University Sport, the regional membership association for universities in Atlantic Canada, entering his second year as President.

“Being involved in both organizations makes for good alignment,” says Arsenault. “Athletic directors are starting to take on more senior roles in this kind of governance. It’s good for members to be involved in these discussions and strategies at both levels. It helps schools across the country gain a better understanding of others’ successes as well as some of the challenges in university sports.”

Arsenault has been director of athletics and recreation at Mount Allison University for nearly a decade. He has led a number of initiatives in that time, including the implementation of a strategic plan for Athletics and Recreation in 2010 with a focus on wellness and active living and excellence in campus recreation, club sports, and varsity sports. This has included the launch of the Mountie Pride values (Passion, Relentlessness, Intelligence, Discipline, Execution); having 90 per cent of student athletes in good academic standing with 72 students being named Academic All-Canadians in 2017; and multiple teams being nationally ranked over the past five years.

Building on these successes, the department launched a second strategic plan for a five-year period in 2017 (mountiepride.ca)