Despite her warm and pleasant demeanor, Julie Scherz is probably not who student athletes want to get a call from. 

Scherz is the new faculty athletic representative for Wichita State. Her job is to make sure students work as hard for their professors as they do their coaches. 

“I’m not going to be be their momma, but this job is to ensure that students have a quality experience while they’re here,” Scherz said. 

After taking over for former representative of 38 years, Dr. Martin Perline, Julie is familiarizing herself with the NCAA handbook in preparation for her new position. Though the rules and regulations may be extensive, she has fellow faculty members she believes will help just as much. 

Serving as a liaison between athletics and academics, Julie will work with all NCAA sports on campus, roughly 200 student athletes. 

In addition to being a faculty member with a full teaching schedule, she chairs the Compliance Committee and monitors athlete GPA and practice hours and other regulation that need to be met by the NCAA.

As a season ticket holder for several WSU programs, Scherz said the benefits of her new job are worth their weight in gold. Though the position doesn’t involve a pay increase, she receives passes to all sporting events as well as tickets to basketball and baseball.  

“I’ll get to be part of athletics in a different way,” Scherz said. She said she looks forward to helping the athletes while contributing more to Wichita State’s athletic program. 

Scherz will meet with all the athletes in the fall orientation. She will also travel with the men’s basketball team to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and attend conference meetings for Wichita State. 

“I’m anticipating some parts of the year may be more intense than other parts of the year,” Scherz said. She said the end of spring and fall semesters will be the busiest. 

Though the scope of her new title is wide spread, Scherz will only be contacted when necessary. She said she doesn’t expect this will be a frequent problem due to the quality of WSU’s student athletes.

Scherz said WSU athletics has a graduation rate “above the curve in Missouri Valley.” She said she feels that Wichita State stresses academics as well as they do athletics, making her job much easier.

With around a dozen student athletes making the Missouri Valley Honor Roll, Wichita States compliance rate is above average. 

In addition to working with students, she will also meet with coaches as well as other athletics faculty members. 

Athletics Director Eric Sexton picked Scherz for the job. They worked together in the intercollegiate athletic association board of assistant directors and saw her at games.

“I’m excited, I’m looking forward to this opportunity to learn and see the young people get their work done both in the class room and on the field,” Scherz said.