Emmanuel's Dan Campagna, David Rixham Tabbed as 2022 GNAC SID Staff of the Year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Courtesy of EC Athletics Communications

Campagna & Rixham Tabbed as 2022
GNAC Sports Information Staff of the Year

WINTHROP, Mass. – Emmanuel College's Dan Campagna '07 and David Rixham have been named the 2021-22 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Sports Information Staff of the Year, it was announced by the league office on Thursday.

Campagna's complete title is "Senior Assistant Athletic Director / Director of Athletic Communications, Sports Information & Compliance," while Rixham's is "Assistant Sports Information Director / Department Coordinator."

This marks the second time an Emmanuel SID has earned the honor as Alexis Mastronardi was named the inaugural GNAC SID of the Year back in 2008 for the Saints.

"It's always special to be recognized by your peers in this line of work," said Campagna. "Our conference has an impressive list of SIDs that do so many great things for their institutions so it's a humbling honor that I'm very grateful for. I'd also like to thank Dave [Rixham] for all his hard work this year because he really helped elevate our social media and graphics game!"

The duo earns GNAC SID Staff of the Year honors following a campaign at Emmanuel that saw several advancements in social media branding, equipment integration and the launch of an internal internship program spearheaded by the two. The pair publicized two GNAC Championship programs in the Women's Basketball and Women's Outdoor Track & Field squads in addition to six GNAC major award winners, six All-Region selections and three GNAC Coach of the Year honorees. They covered a total of 63 GNAC All-Conference student-athletes over the 16 varsity programs.

In addition to running the www.goECSaints.com athletics website and social media accounts, they were responsible for implementing two new video score tables inside the Andy Yosinoff Court for home basketball and volleyball contests. Outside at Clemente Field, they continued to add to their arsenal of video scoreboard graphics despite several challenges during the year of hosting events off-campus, without hard-wired internet or an on-site press box/locker room structure to house any of their equipment.

Campagna and Rixham also provided coverage of Emmanuel's academic successes, highlighted by 110 student-athletes who received academic recognition either at the regional or conference level by their respective sport organization. They also co-taught a Sport Communications course at Emmanuel during the 2022 Spring Semester.

As the Department Coordinator, Rixham was the main point of contact for the Athletic Department Internship Program that saw nine Emmanuel College students partake during its first academic year. Students were assigned internships in the areas of Game Day Operations, Marketing, Fan & Alumni Engagement, Athletic Administration, Marketing & Media, and Broadcasting/Play by Play throughout the two semesters, gaining valuable experience working for a collegiate athletic department under their guidance and direction.

"It's great to work in a fast-paced environment that puts the student-athletes first," said Rixham. "I learned a lot my first year at Emmanuel and am excited to continue to collaborate with Dan [Campagna] to better the student-athlete experience for our teams and coaches."

Both Campagna and Rixham are members of College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA). Entering his 12^th year on staff at Emmanuel, Campagna recently presented at the 2022 CoSIDA Convention on a panel titled "Back to the Basics" and was named a 2020-21 CoSIDA District 1 Fred Stabley, Sr. Writing Contest winner for the feature story he wrote titled Breaking Barriers and Ankles with Jamad Fiin in the category of Social Justice/Diversity & Inclusion. The contest recognizes excellence in feature writing, historical features, administrator/coach profiles and event coverage.

Rixham enters his second year on staff at EC after previously working in the Sports Information offices at Becker, Newbury and Emerson.

This marks the fifth time in GNAC history that Emmanuel administrators has been honored with an end of year award. Along with Mastronardi's 2008 SID of the Year recognition, the Saints have also received the GNAC Executive of the Year twice (2017 – Alexis Mastronardi, 2014 – Pam Roecker) and the 2010 GNAC Athletic Trainer of the Year (Ron Laham).