The alumni H-Club at Hope College will present its “Hope for Humanity Award” to 1979 Hope graduate Kathy Beauregard of Richland, who is in her 16th year as director of athletics at Western Michigan University, on Saturday, Dec. 8.
The “Hope for Humanity Award,” first presented in 1990, recognizes Hope athletic alumni for consistent service to others and demonstrating the values of Christian commitment and service. The H-Club consists of Hope alumni who were athletic letter winners and other honorary letter winners.
The group will honor Beauregard during halftime of the 3 p.m. Hope men’s basketball game taking place at the DeVos Fieldhouse as part of the annual Holland Sentinel/Russ DeVette Classic tournament. Tickets for the game will be available at the door, and cost $6 for adult bleacher general admission, $4 for under-18 bleacher general admission, $8 for stadium reserved seating and $10 for cushion reserved seating.
Beauregard has been director of athletics at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo since 1997, and is the longest-serving athletic director in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). When she took the role, she was one of only seven women nationwide serving as director of athletics at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) I-A Institution.
Across her tenure, the university’s teams and individual athletes have earned a variety honors, including numerous NCAA tournament appearances and All-America and Academic All-America recognition. The university’s athletic facilities have greatly improved under her leadership, including through the addition of the Bill Brown Football Alumni Center and the Seelye Athletic Indoor Center.
Beauregard has been with Western Michigan University for more than 30 years. Prior to becoming director of athletics, she had served as associate athletic director and senior associate athletic director, and from 1979 through 1988 she was head women’s gymnastics coach.
She has been active professionally beyond the university as well. Among other service, she chaired the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee for two years, represented Western Michigan University as a member of the NCAA Championship Cabinet and NCAA Football Bowl Certification Committee, and was on the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Beauregard has also been active in numerous community service organizations, including the American Cancer Society, Go Red for Women, the American Heart Association, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and the Glowing Embers Girl Scouts Council and the Boys & Girls Club. She is also a past member of the board of the Hope College Alumni H-Club.
She has received multiple awards in recognition of her outstanding service, including, most recently, the Gerald R. Ford Sportsman of the Year Award, presented by the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in October, and the Lifetime Woman of Achievement Award, presented by the YWCA of Kalamazoo in May. Other recognition she has received through the years has included the Under Armour Award from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics; being named Athletic Director of the Year for the Football Subdivision in the Central Region by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics; the Athena Award from the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce; the “Glass Ceiling Award” from the Kalamazoo Network; and induction into the Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High School Athletic Hall of Fame. As gymnastics coach, she was twice named coach of the year in the MAC.
Hope presented her with a Distinguished Alumni Award in May 2000. In addition, she was featured in the college’s alumni magazine, “News from Hope College,” in April 1998, and in an alumni profile in the 1998-99 “Hope College Catalog.”
She graduated from Hope with a major in physical education. She completed a master’s in athletic administration at Western Michigan University in 1982.
Beauregard and her husband, Rick, have a grown son, Brad, who is a student at Western Michigan University.
The DeVos Fieldhouse is located at 222 Fairbanks Ave., between Ninth and 11th streets.