MONTGOMERY, Ala. | The Alabama State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and Athletic Director,
Dr. Jason Cable, announced the addition of three new staff members to the department on Wednesday, along with a promotion.
Dr. Genese A. Lavalais joins the department as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Experience and Senior Woman Administrator following a stint at Hampton. This is her second stint at Alabama State after having served as an Athletic Academic Advisor in 2010-11. She has held roles at Grambling State, Jackson State, and most recently Hampton. While at Hampton, she served as the Director of Academic Support Services/Life Skills. She was responsible for evaluating student transcripts, projecting progress toward degree, and developing a Life Skills program that focused on academic, athletic, career and personal development, and community service. Prior to her time at Hampton, Lavalais served as the Associate Athletic Director, Academics/SWA at Jackson State. Her responsibilities included oversight of the athletic, academic enhancement center servicing over 320 student-athletes. She served as the liaison to the President's office in the absence of the Director of Athletics managing day-to-day operations of the department. She currently serves on the Women Leaders in Collegiate Sports Membership subcommittee, the NCAA PTD Waiver subcommittee and is the lead faculty member for the N4A HBCU Professional Development Institute. She also served two years of a committee member for the NCAA Committee on Academic.
Cable announced the addition of a pair of staff members in Compliance including adding
Stephanie Thompson as the Assistant Athletic Director of Compliance. She joins the staff at Alabama State after a stint at Bethune-Cookman as the Director of Compliance and Academic Initiatives. She managed the Name, Image, and Likeness monitoring initiative, while also managing the distribution of the NCAA Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund. Thompson monitored all aspects of recruiting of prospective student-athletes and led certification efforts, while also leading the data collection and reporting of the NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and Academic Progress Rate (APR) while at Bethune-Cookman.
Mike Mills, a former Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) student-athlete, joins the staff as the Director of Compliance. He comes to the department after a stint at Fairfield High School where he worked closely with the athletic director on player development, academic eligibility, injury prevention, and practice plans. He also maintained academic eligibility of those student-athletes in the school. Prior to his time at Fairfield, Mills served as a Compliance/Student Services Intern at the SWAC office where he assisted with compliance of 18 different sports, as well as student services for ten universities. He assisted with medical hardship, certification, transfer, and eligibility waivers. He also assisted with data research in terms of scheduling.
Cable also announced the promotion of
Jacqueline Freeman-Johnson, J.D. from Assistant Athletic Director of Compliance to Senior Associate Athletic Director of Internal Operations/Chief of Staff. In her new role, Johnson will provide oversight and executive level management of strategic priorities and initiatives for ASU athletics, oversee key internal areas such as business and finance and human resources, advise and lead in the development of formulation of athletic policies and procedures, and develop and maintain positive and productive relationships with key internal and external constituents. She serves on several committees on campus including Marketing and Community Engagement, Strategic Planning, and Enrollment Management. She also served as the Chair of the SWAC Compliance Administrators committee.
FOLLOW THE HORNETS
For complete coverage of Alabama State University athletics, follow the Hornets on social media @BamaStateSports (Twitter), /BamaStateSports (Facebook), @BamaStateSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Alabama State athletics at BamaStateSports.com.
