January 3, 2020, will mark ten years for Noreen Morris, 54, as the active Northeast Conference (NEC) commissioner. As commissioner, Morris’ position involves big picture oversight and providing information to the executives of the NEC universities.
“As commissioner, it’s my job to lead the conference in all classes of the services that we offer,” Morris said. Some of the services include, sponsoring 23 sports, along with providing coverage for NEC Front Row.
As commissioner, Morris works alongside the presidents of the Northeast Conference (NEC) universities along including Long Island University’s President, Kimberly Cline.
With a degree in Consumer Economics from Cornell University and a Masters degree in Sports Management from Massachusetts Amherst, Morris is no stranger to the athletic world either. From 1983-1987, Morris played soccer at Cornell while obtaining her degree. She was apart of the first recruitment class for their women’s soccer program.
In her youth, Morris played soccer, and was the first and only girl to ever play in an all-boys soccer league in New Jersey. “I think all of those things, without me even realizing it, were setting me up for a career in college athletics,” Morris said.
Morris’ first administrative job was as the compliance coordinator at the University of Connecticut from 1991-1996. Furthermore, for eight years, Morris went on to be the associate commissioner for compliance and governance at Conference USA. Conference USA is the intercollegiate athletic conference with 14 members and is located in southwestern America.
Following Conference USA, Morris continued her career at Northwestern University, for over five years, serving as the senior associate athletic director, overseeing five different sports and five different athletic departments. From then on, Morris became the Northeast Conference commissioner on January 3, 2010.
Morris welcomes all students and student-athletes to contact her regarding LIU and NEC athletics at nmorris@northeastconference.org.