MIAC Release

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Thursday afternoon, Dr. LuAnn Reif has prepared a message to announce the winner of the 2019-20 CSB Scholar-Athlete Award. But Thursday morning, Reif was surprised with an honor of her own.
 
Reif – who has served as the Faculty Athletic Representative for the College of Saint Benedict athletic department for more than 30 years – received the MIAC's Distinguished Service Award Thursday at the league's annual FAR meeting. The award is presented annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to their institution and the conference, and is the highest honor bestowed upon an individual from the MIAC.

 
"LuAnn has brought so much to the MIAC with her guidance and thoughtfulness over the years," MIAC Commissioner Dan McKane said. "Her leadership has been invaluable, and the impact she has had on shaping the student-athlete experience for past, present and future MIAC competitors is really immeasurable."
 
Reif, who is also a professor of nursing at CSB/SJU, is the only FAR in the history of Saint Benedict athletics. For more than three decades, she has helped reshape conference rules to ensure MIAC student-athletes receive the best academic and athletic experience possible. She has been a member of the MIAC Executive Committee, Compliance Committee and the search committees to hire both the first and second executive directors in conference history.
 
As well as serving at the conference level, Reif has attended the NCAA convention nearly every year for the past 35 years to represent the CSB athletic department and gain perspective on the impact and involvement of FARs nationally.
 
Reif is the 27^th recipient of the MIAC Distinguished Service Award since its inception in 2001, and the second honoree for CSB. She joins former athletic director Carol Howe-Veenstra, who was honored upon her retirement in 2015. Reif has also been honored previously by the Minnesota Chapter of National Girls and Women in Sports Day with a Breaking Barriers Award in 2006 for helping to develop opportunities for women in athletics.