ROBERT G. DRISCOLL JR., former Providence College vice president and director of athletics, was recently named by the Big East Conference as the 2022 John Thompson Jr. Award winner. The award recognizes significant efforts within the Big East Conference to fight prejudice and discrimination and advance positive societal change. Driscoll served as PC’s athletic director for 21 years before retiring in June.
What does receiving the John Thompson Jr. Award mean to you? I am really humbled by it. The fact that John Thompson was a Providence College Friar and probably one of the most successful basketball coaches [with Georgetown University] in the history of the game and just what he stood for, I’m very proud to be associated with his name. We decided about 10 years ago that we were going to be a leader in diversity, equity and inclusion. I’d like to think that we’ve made some progress. I’m glad that we got the honor, but it was a team honor. This is probably the nicest award I ever received.
In what ways did you help advance positive societal change at the college? I was sitting with the women’s basketball team and most of them are women of color. I was asking what their experiences were like, and they were not having that particularly positive experience on campus. It really broke my heart, so we decided to do a study, an evaluation of where we were relative to treating all of our student athletes with dignity and respect. A lot of the findings from that study you would not necessarily be proud of. But, from there, three initiatives came out of it. One was to hire the first full-time diversity, equity and inclusion person that was part of my executive staff, and we accomplished that. Secondly, it was to do ongoing [diversity] programs and make it part of our strategic plan and mission. From there, we just built it; we were the first to do that within the Big East.
What kind of a response did that receive on campus? I think it was really embraced. [Former President The Rev. Brian J.] Shanley was 100% on board. [Current President The Rev. Kenneth R.] Sicard was on board. I think we impacted admissions and how we hired people, and how we treated people. We still have a long way to go, but that was the tipping point. It also was constantly diversifying the application pool and consciously going out and making sure recruiting and scholarships were also being given to people of color and underrepresented communities. Education is the power in the world, and a lot of people who come from similar backgrounds do not get that same opportunity.
Even though you are retired, do you still plan to help continue this initiative at PC? I am continuing to work with members of my department in Providence, as well as people across campus. I have an executive coaching position that I created here and helping other administrators in athletics. It is kind of my life’s purpose to continue to educate people to help them become better at what they do.
