LANSING, Mich. -- Former Grand Valley State Professor and Director of the School of Computing Dr. Paul Leidig received the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s most prestigious honor when he was presented with the Tom Donahue Award during Tuesday evening's GLIAC Management Council reception in Lansing.
Leidig, the Grand Valley State Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) for over 20 years, recently retired from Grand Valley State University at the conclusion of the winter semester after 33 years of service. Leidig has played a key role in GVSU athletics, the GLIAC and the NCAA.
The Donahue Service Award, established in 1988, is selected by administrators from around the league. It is presented to a current or former administrator at a conference school who made significant contributions to the GLIAC and intercollegiate athletics and exemplifies the highest standard of dedication to the league and its student-athletes set by former GLIAC commissioner Tom Donahue. It was last presented in 2021 to Michigan Tech Professor Emeritus Bill Sproule. Leidig is Grand Valley State’s sixth recipient.
Leidig has served in several leadership roles with the NCAA and GLIAC. He served on the NCAA DII Management Council for six years from 2014-2020. The DII Management Council handles most of the day-to-day affairs of the division and serves as the primary body that sets administrative policy and regulations. He served for 12 years (2007-2019) on the DII Academic Requirements Committee, with two different terms as Chair (2009-2011 and 2017-2019) leading the efforts on the Pathway-to-Graduation eligibility requirements. He also served on several other committees including the Membership Committee and several scholarship selection committees including the top NCAA scholarship – the Walter Byers Scholarship. At the GLIAC conference level, he has served on the Eligibility Committee and the Constitution and Bylaws Committees.
"It's been a privilege serving as Grand Valley State's Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) for the past two decades," said Leidig. "Witnessing the dedication of our coaches, staff, and student-athletes has been humbling. Everyone collaborates to ensure our student-athletes excel academically and in competition. I appreciate how numerous coaches have welcomed me into their teams. Working with athletics leadership and coaches taught me about commitment to the Laker community. As FAR, I've seen firsthand how academics and athletics mutually reinforce each other to support our students' success."
In his academic role, Leidig served on the The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and as the Vice President for the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB) Board of Directors. He also acted as the Chair of the Mulitdisciplinary Data Science Competency Taskforce (Acm, asa, maa, ams, SIAM) and the Co-Chair of the ACM/AIS IS2020 Curriculum Task Force and ACM Data Science Task Force. His research interests included Computing Curricula requirements and trends, Information Technology Strategy and Data Science (emerging discipline development).
The previous award recipients are:
| Year |
Recipient |
Institution |
| 1988 |
George MacDonald |
Grand Valley State University |
| 1989 |
Bob Hensee |
Hillsdale College |
| 1990 |
Ted Kearly |
Michigan Technological University |
| 1991 |
Barb Patrick |
Northern Michigan University |
| 1992 |
Bud Cooper |
Lake Superior State University |
| 1993 |
Vern Norris |
Commissioner, GLIAC |
| 1994 |
Dorothy Dreyer |
Wayne State University |
| 1995 |
Dr. Thomas Hendrix |
Grand Valley State University |
| 1996 |
Jack McAvoy |
Hillsdale College |
| 1997 |
Jack Finn |
Northwood University |
| 1999 |
Bob Becker |
Saginaw Valley State University |
| 2000 |
Chris Petrouleas |
Wayne State University |
| 2001 |
Joan Boand |
Grand Valley State University |
| 2002 |
Dr. Charles Jones |
Lake Superior State University |
| 2003 |
Dr. Mark Kosciuszko |
Ferris State University |
| 2004 |
Michael Corbett |
Gannon University |
| 2005 |
Bob Wendling |
Ashland University |
| 2006 |
Rick Yeo |
Michigan Technological University |
| 2007 |
Bill Crawford |
Lake Superior State University |
| 2008 |
Bob Brennan |
Wayne State University |
| 2009 |
Tom Brown |
Commissioner, GLIAC |
| 2010 |
George Eastland |
Saginaw Valley State University |
| 2011 |
Tom Kirinovic |
Ferris State University |
| 2012 |
Arend D. Lubbers |
Grand Valley State University |
| 2013 |
Dr. Bonnie Tiel |
Tiffin University |
| 2014 |
Bill Goldring |
Ashland University |
| 2017 |
Tim Selgo |
Grand Valley State University |
| 2021 |
Bill Sproule |
Michigan Tech University |
| 2024 |
Dr. Paul Leidig |
Grand Valley State University |
