As the director of athletics and chair of the Sports and Leisure Studies Department at St. Lawrence University (SLU), Margaret Fisher Strait '67 has guided a major renovation of the campus' athletic facilities while directing one of the most comprehensive intercollegiate athletic programs in NCAA Division III and two NCAA Division I ice hockey programs.
Strait, a native of Madrid, N.Y., was an officer and competitor for the SUNY Cortland Ski Club between 1963-67. She also participated with the College's Dolphinotes Swim Club, was president of Sigma Rho sorority and a member of the Inter-Sorority Council.
She earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from SUNY Cortland and a M.Ed. in counseling from St. Lawrence University. In 1967, she began her professional career as a women's swim coach and instructor at Syosset (N.Y.) High School. She taught health and physical education at Stonington (Conn.) Junior High for a year before joining the SLU faculty in 1970 as a physical education instructor.
Within the Sports and Leisure Studies Department, Strait was promoted to assistant professor in 1975, associate professor in 1990 and chair in 1998. She co-directed SLU's Human Performance Lab and is co-author of Ski Touring - A Winter Affair (Kendall Hunt Publishing Co., 1975).
Strait spent 17 seasons as women's tennis coach and eight as men's tennis coach. She was voted the 1994 New York State Coach of the Year. She led her women's teams to three conference championships and two state titles, while rebuilding the men's program into a conference champion. She chaired both the New York State Women's Athletic Association and New York State Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Tennis Committees.
From 1970-80, she was head alpine and cross country ski coach for the women. From 1980-89, she assisted with both the men's and women's ski teams. In 1999, she received the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Service Award. She was a cross country official for the Nordic Skiing events during the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid.
The SLU director of athletics since 1998, Strait has coordinated the addition of seven new athletic teams, as well as all phases of the athletics facilities' renovation. These improvements include a new artificial turf field, a new football field, several new practice venues, Appleton Arena improvements, and a new, nine-lane outdoor all weather track which was the site of the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships. She is also working on a new fitness center, field house, and squash and tennis facilities. As a Waddington Village Board member between 1990-95, she improved recreational opportunities in her community. She has also chaired the Madrid Waddington Parent Coaches Association.
She and her husband, Russ, have two children: Hawley and Wendy.
