• The Director of Athletics oversees the operation of the Department of Athletics and Recreation. The department operates two divisions of programming; Intercollegiate Athletics consisting of 21 male and female varsity sports, and Campus Recreation which provides programming in Intramural Sports, Club Sports and Fitness and Wellness for the college community.

Director of Athletics and Recreation at Bridgewater State University since 1991, John Harper oversees a program that sponsors 21 intercollegiate varsity sports in addition to a wide variety of sport clubs and intramural/recreational activities. 

During his tenure at BSU, Mr. Harper has been instrumental in advocating for numerous programming, staffing and facilities improvements for the benefit of the entire campus community.  Among these major projects was the construction of Alumni Park, the on-campus baseball/softball complex which has hosted numerous NCAA regional softball tournaments.  Perhaps the biggest facility improvement on the Bridgewater State campus was the construction of the 80,000 square foot Adrian Tinsley Center which was dedicated in September, 2002.  The building houses the Athletics and Recreation Department along with the academic offerings of the Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies Department.  The opening of that facility also saw a doubling of the Athletics and Recreation Department’s professional staff, all of whom report to Mr. Harper.  Finally, the most recent facility construction project with which Mr. Harper has been involved was the $4.7 million renovation of Swenson Field which included the installation of a new synthetic turf playing surface, an 8-lane competitive all-weather track, new bleacher seating for 1500, a new full-service press box and television broadcast-quality lighting.  The “new and improved” Swenson Field was dedicated at Homecoming in October of 2010.

In addition to his duties at Bridgewater State, Mr. Harper served a three-year term as Commissioner of the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference, the nation’s second-oldest NCAA Division III men’s and women’s playing conference.  He has been a member of numerous NCAA and ECAC regional sports championship committees and he also served as chairperson of the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee.  Mr. Harper sat on the Division III Management Council for three years where he served on the Administrative Review Subcommittee and as Management Council liaison to the national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).  His Management Council assignment also involved his administrative expertise as chair of the Division III Playing and Practice Seasons subcommittee.  Harper was also an executive mentor in the NCAA-sponsored Fellows Leadership Development Program in 2007 and 2008. 

Locally, Mr. Harper has been a member of many campus committees such as Minority Recruitment and Retention, Mentors in Violence Prevention and the Safe Colleges Coalition.  In recognition of his numerous administrative successes, Harper was named the Division III “Athletic Director of the Year” for 2002-2003 in the Northeast Region by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.  Additionally, his long-time involvement with Special Olympics-- Massachusetts earned him the Massachusetts Outstanding Co-Games Director of the Year Award in 1999, the Hanlon Award for Volunteerism in 2003 and, along with the rest of the Bridgewater State University Management Team, induction into the Massachusetts Special Olympics Hall of Fame in 2004.  He also received the Commonwealth’s Citation for Outstanding Performance in 1999.

Prior to assuming his duties as Athletics Director at Bridgewater State, Mr. Harper served as both an Assistant and Associate Director of Athletics at Wichita State University (1987-1991), the Director of the Charles E. Smith Center for Physical Education and Athletics at The George Washington University (1982-1987) and the Director of Recreational Sports at Missouri State University (1974-1982).  He earned his undergraduate degree from Ithaca College (1971) and completed his Master’s degree at Indiana University (1974).  John and his wife, Ann, who reside in Bridgewater, Mass., have two sons and twin grandchildren.