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Nancy Hogshead-Makar, CEO of Champion Women, a former Olympic athlete, and a former professor at the Florida Coastal School of Law, presented the fifth annual Birch Bayh Lecture on October 4.

In remarks titled, “Title IX’s Heavy Lift for Coaches: Why Don’t the Most Successful Women’s Coaches Have Job Security?” Hogshead-Makar spoke about the impact of Title IX from the perspective of someone who has competed as an athlete at the highest levels of sport, and someone who has analyzed its significance as a legal scholar. Senator Bayh wrote the landmark legislation that prohibits discrimination based on gender.

Hogshead-Makar is a life-long advocate for access and equality in athletics. She is chief executive officer of Champion Women, a non-profit organization that advocates for equality and accountability in sport. Focus areas include equal play, such as traditional Title IX compliance in athletic department, sexual harassment, abuse and assault in sport, as well as employment, pregnancy issues, and LGBT discrimination.

Hogshead-Makar capped eight years as a world-class swimmer at the 1984 Olympics, where she won three gold medals and one silver medal. She has won the prestigious Kiphuth Award, given to the best all-around swimmer nationally, and has been inducted into 11 halls of fame, including the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. She is an internationally-recognized legal expert on sports issues, and is the co-author of the book, Equal Play, Title IX and Social Change. She has testified before Congress several times on the topic of gender equity in athletics, written many scholarly and lay articles, and is a frequent guest on national news programs.

Hogshead-Makar practiced law at the firm Holland & Knight, and she enjoyed a 30-year history with the Women’s Sports Foundation before starting Champion Women. She received her juris doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center, and is an honors graduate of Duke University.

The Birch Bayh Lecture is an annual event at the school, established in honor of former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh. The lecture series, made possible through the generous contributions of the Simon Property Group where Senator Bayh served on the board for 17 years, and friends of Birch Bayh, focuses on issues of importance to Senator Bayh throughout his long and distinguished career in government.

In the photo from left are Senator Bayh’s son, Chris Bayh; Nancy Hogshead-Makar, and IU McKinney Dean Andrew R. Klein.