INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Division III Management Council approved the new members of the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) during the annual NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas, on January 11-14. Virginia Wesleyan University first-year Julia Hathaway was appointed to represent the ODAC as well as Pennsylvania’s Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) in the SAAC’s partnership program.
National SAAC features 24 student-athletes from two members of the Division III Management. The Committee is split evenly between men and women representatives with 25-percent of all positions allocated to ethnic minorities.
“I congratulate Julia for this honor,” lauded ODAC Commissioner Brad Bankston. “Her service to the national SAAC is essential to our student-athletes maintaining connection to and having a voice on Division III issues. She will liaise with our partner conference - the MAC - which will provide her valuable experience working with other D-III administrators and student-athletes. I know her time on the committee will be a highlight of her college years.”
Hathaway, a track & field student-athlete from New Kent, Va., is a special education major with plans to go to graduate school for a Master’s Degree in counseling. She begins her three-year term on the national SAAC immediately with the conclusion of her service at the close of the NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C., on January 17, 2026. Hathaway is the first ODAC representative on the D-III SAAC since former Randolph-Macon College women’s soccer player Madison Burns rolled off the committee in 2020.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet and advocate for all of the Division III student-athletes in the NCAA as an ODAC SAAC representative,” expressed Hathaway. “Being a student-athlete is already an amazing and unique experience, but now I love that I have the opportunity to work to create a better experience and empower student-athletes not just on my campus, but all across the country by using my voice to make an impact within the NCAA.”
SAAC programming and contributions take on many forms and are conducted at several levels throughout Division III. In addition to the overarching national outfit, each campus features an institutional SAAC composed of student-athletes from various sports throughout a school’s athletic sponsorship. Each conference in Division III also conducts programming with league-level SAAC organizations. Those are composed of members from institutional SAACs with representatives varying per each leagues’ regulations.
Involvement and interaction for Division III SAAC has evolved greatly over the last decade. That includes changes at the most recent NCAA Convention that saw SAAC receive a formal vote during the Division III business session and a student-athlete voice on all six Division III governance standing committees. Division III SAAC reviews legislation slated to be subject to a vote at each NCAA Convention and has the option to take a position on each. Those positions are weighed heavily by membership as part of voting rationale.
Division III SAAC has been integral to the development of the most prominent charitable and awareness campaigns of the Division. SAAC continues to play a major role in the Division III-Special Olympics partnership, which is in its second decade of activity. Mental health awareness has been championed by SAAC over the last several years, with R-MC’s Burns spearheading the “Break the Stigma” campaign as D-III SAAC chair in 2020 and seeing the Mental Health Media Campaign become an annual program.
RELATED: “Break the Stigma” Campaign Feature | Mental Health Social Media Campaign
Hathaway has already been involved in several programs in just over a semester at Virginia Wesleyan. She participated in the Marlins efforts during the ODAC-sponsored canned food drive supporting local charitable organizations. ODAC SAAC contributed more than 28,000 non-perishable items to the league’s annual event, with the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia benefitting specifically from VWU’s efforts.
Hathaway also contributed to VWU campaigns supporting mental health awareness as part of the campus’s Morgan’s Message and The Bandana Project (aka Green Bandana Project) initiatives.
What they say about Julia Hathaway…
“We are very excited for Julia to represent Virginia Wesleyan and the ODAC on the National Student-Athlete Advisory Council. This will be a great opportunity for Julia to learn about the NCAA and collegiate athletics as a whole. I am confident that Julia will represent us well.”
— Andrea Hoover-Erbig, Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Virginia Wesleyan
“I am so excited that Julia is able to represent not only Virginia Wesleyan and the ODAC, but having someone from our Institution and our conference represent us on the national level is HUGE. Julia is a joy to have since joining our program and I know she will make an immediate impact alongside her peers who are members of the committee. Since she arrived at VWU, Julia has made it known that she wants to be heavily involved on campus and in the community. I am proud to say that she is doing just that.”
— Cameia Alexander, Director of Mens’ and Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field, Virginia Wesleyan