The Alameda County Woman’s Hall of Fame inducted 12 new members March 31.

Of those new members was CSU East Bay’s Director of Athletics, Debby DeAngelis, who was honored for her work in sports and athletics.

“It is a great honor to be recognized with such an outstanding group of women from all areas of expertise,” said DeAngelis.

Beginning her sports career as a rower and rowing coach, DeAngelis spent 23 years at Division I-AA institutions coaching and working in the administrative areas of business and internal operations at Northeastern, Cal State Northridge and Towson universities.

DeAngelis was a member of the 1975 USA women’s rowing team at the World Championships and was named Woman of the Year by the National Women’s Rowing Association in 1983.

She is an international umpire in rowing and has officiated at three Olympics.

In addition to her induction, DeAngelis along with a few others were awarded seven other awards, including a California State Legislature Assembly resolution.

“It was a very special day for me to be with my family, friends and university colleagues along with almost 500 others to celebrate women.  It was an opportunity to feel good about the accomplishments of women while still recognizing the work that needs to be done,” said DeAngelis.

DeAngelis was nominated for the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame by the Director of Athletics at Mills College in Oakland, Themy Adachi, who was the 2005 Alameda Country Woman of the Year in Sports and Athletics.

In DeAngelis’ Hall of Fame nomination application, Adachi said this about DeAngelis:

“Women are markedly underrepresented in collegiate athletics administration. Debby has often been one of the only women ‘at the table’ in athletic conferences and committee,” said Adachi. “Scores of women point to Debby De Angelis as the person who helped kick-start their career.”

DeAngelis is the first woman to hold the position of Director of Athletics at CSUEB and this year marks her 11th year at the university, transitioning it from a non-athletic scholarship, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III program to a Division II program offering athletic scholarships to student athletes.

Locally, she serves as a committee member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and is a foundation chair for the Hayward Rotary Club.

DeAngelis also served on the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Gender Equity Committee from 2006 to 2009 and is vice president of the California Pacific Conference.

On the national level she serves on the board of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA).

In international and national rowing communities, DeAngelis has been an advocate for women and youth for decades. She was one of five members on the Women’s Commission of FISA, the international federation for rowing, where she served for over 30 years.

Among her accomplishments, DeAngelis was voted the USA delegate to the FISA congress eight times, while also holding leadership roles on committees, which governed rowing at the Olympic level.

As part of the ceremony, all 12 inductees were asked, “What keeps you motivated or drives you to excel in your field of nomination?”  “People,” DeAngelis responded. “Student-athletes, my staff, my coaches, our administration and all the people I have come to know from all parts of the world in all walks of life through international rowing, all striving to excel, keep[ing] me motivated to excel.”