Committee Members
- Chris Strong, Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Facilitator
- Jessica Arnold, Division of Exploratory Studies*
- Jonathan Elugbadebo, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
- Hannah Gillespie, College of Education
- Brianna Gregg, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
- Todd Kato, School of Information Sciences
- Amy Ledford, Office of Undergraduate Admissions
- Kristi Martin, College of Fine and Applied Arts
- Cory Ohms, Gies College of Business
- Cheryl Street, School of Social Work
- Dustin Tarter, College of Applied Health Sciences
- Megan Tucker Zwilling, College of Media
- Brian Woodard, Grainger College of Engineering
- Stephon Fuqua, Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, ex officio
- Darko Marinov, Grainger College of Engineering, ex officio
- Stephanie Wheeler, Disability Resources and Educational Services, ex officio
Charge Letter
Dear CASA Members,
Thank you for agreeing to serve on the Committee on the Admission of Student-Athletes (CASA) for the 2025-26 academic year. CASA was formed in 1983 to ensure academic oversight and transparency in the admission of student-athletes and continues to play a vital and important role. Chris Strong has agreed to convene and facilitate meetings as student-athlete application volume warrants.
The committee is charged with reviewing student-athlete applications requiring special admission consideration, including:
- those who lack one or more courses required to meet high school subject pattern requirements;
- those who, due to increasing academic competitiveness, would not be selected for admission to their first-choice program if reviewed as a general applicant, including those who are not considered because they applied after the published deadline or applied to a program not open to general applicants; and,
- those students who would be referred to the Access and Achievement Program or other similar programs on campus for admission consideration.
In each case, the committee’s goal should be to determine whether the student’s objective academic record and demonstrated academic motivation, combined with the special support services available, will give them a reasonable chance for academic success. Each recruited varsity athlete should have their athletic talent verified by at least two coaching staff members with specific knowledge of the student’s athletic potential.
Please find the 2025-26 CASA Guidelines enclosed to help with these cases. While admission must be approved by the senior admissions officer of the unit in which the student will enroll, the committee has the authority to deny admission to the campus and any such decision is binding for all units.
CASA’s considerations have historically been limited to varsity athletes on the teams supported by the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics. Beginning with the 2023 review cycle, the committee also expanded to consider applications for the university’s wheelchair athletic teams. These applications will be brought to the committee by Stephanie Wheeler. Note that the wheelchair teams are not part of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA). They are funded by and report to the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES). Wheelchair athletes can earn varsity letters and have access to the facilities in the DIA’s Irwin Academic Center Services Center, though they receive academic support from DRES. Your decisions about applicants for wheelchair teams should be based on the same criteria you apply to applicants for DIA teams. The inclusion of wheelchair teams is not intended to alter, limit, or supersede any current CASA decisions, policies, or practices for traditional student-athletes.
Once again, thank you for agreeing to serve on this important committee.
Sincerely,
Charles L. Isbell, Jr.
Chancellor
John Coleman
Provost