DAPHNE, Ala. – Santa Fe College associate athletic director Richanna Lindo said the United States Sports Academy’s online approach and sports-only master’s degree program suited her needs after she entered the workforce with a bachelor’s degree.
A native of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Lindo earned her Master of Sports Science degree in sports management with an NCAA compliance emphasis in 2010, after she earned dual bachelor’s degrees in sports management and business administration from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina in 2004. Armed with her bachelor’s education, Lindo entered the workforce and took Academy master’s degree courses in her spare time.
“I chose the Academy because I was intrigued by a school whose entire focus was on a base of athletics and athletic management, and it also offered the online degree option, which I used because I needed to join the working world shortly after getting my undergraduate degree,” Lindo said.
“I also knew someone who went through the Academy for her degree and she thought it was a great experience, and recommended I look into it.”
After completing her Academy master’s degree, Lindo joined Columbia-Greene Community College (C-GCC) – part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system – in Hudson, N.Y., in institutional research and community services. She left the college in 2013 to coach volleyball at Adrian College in Michigan, but soon returned to C-GCC as the assistant athletic director and assistant volleyball coach. A year after taking the assistant athletic director position, Lindo was promoted to interim athletic director. She was named athletic director in 2015 and served there until August, when she accepted the job at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Fla.
“I will be working on many different aspects within the department, such as intramurals, home game management, office administration, social media presence and fitness center operations,” she said.
“At Columbia-Greene, the department is super small,” she said. “There was a part-time office staff of three employees – myself included – and between the three of us we had to make sure athletic eligibility and program requirements, administrative work, game management, and physical jobs were handled.
“Having to routinely multi-task, and learning a bit of everything to keep it all running smoothly, is the greatest preparation I could have asked for. Santa Fe also has a small office department, so I am familiar with wearing different ‘hats’ and knowing the power of communication and teamwork to get it all done mindset.”
A former collegiate athlete, Lindo played volleyball for Pfeiffer University in North Carolina, where she was a four-year player and named a Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference All-America Student-Athlete.
Lindo said working at Santa Fe College comes with a special bonus – she will be able to live near her family in Florida.
“Instead of being a plane ride away, I’m two hours away,” she said. “As close a family as we are, we all hang out together. Since this opportunity arose I couldn’t pass it up.”
The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.
The Academy is based in Daphne, Ala. For more information, call (251) 626-3303 or visit www.ussa.edu.
