A Chat in the Garden

Tune in Tuesday, Sept. 23rd  at 11:30 am  est when our guest on Chat in the Garden with Monique A. J. Smith will  be  Dr. Ingrid Wicker-McCree, the Director of Athletics at North Carolina Central University .  She officially  began her new leadership role on May 1, 2008.  Wicker-McCree, who officially began her reign May 2008, is   of the ranks of only a handful of women athletic directors in the UNC system, previously served as NCCU's associate athletics director for internal affairs. She has served in a variety of leadership positions in both conference and national level organizations, most notably as president of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Executive Board from 2004-06, becoming only the second woman to ever hold that position in the league's history. In addition, she served as a member of the NCAA's Division II Legislation Committee from  2003-07.

Wicker-McCree was one of the driving forces behind NCCU's reclassification to NCAA Division I. From 1998 until her appointment as Director of Athletics in 2008, she oversaw the internal operations of the Athletics Department, including all compliance and eligibility programs.  Wicker-McCree began her career at NCCU as the head coach for women's volleyball and softball. She became the first coach in NCCU history to win conference championships in multiple sports, capturing the school's first-ever CIAA titles in softball (1998) and volleyball (1999, 2004, 2005). A three-time CIAA Volleyball Coach of the Year (1999, 2002, 2005) and former member of the NCAA Division II National Volleyball Committee, Wicker-McCree earned 239 match victories in 12 seasons as head volleyball coach at NCCU. She was also inducted into the NCCU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004 as head coach of the 1998 softball team.