Eve Atkinson was an outstanding Athletic Administrator and collegiate student athlete. While an undergraduate at West Chester University (WCU), Eve Atkinson was named an All- American swimmer 12 times. She was a key member of the1972 WCU swimming team that captured the National Championship.

When Atkinson was named Athletic Director at Lafayette College, she became the first woman in the United States to be appointed Director of Athletics of a Men’s and Women’s NCAA Division I program with Division I-AA football, and later served as President of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).

Dr. Atkinson was Associate Director of Athletics at Temple University, where she was instrumental in creating one of the first drug and alcohol awareness, testing and rehabilitation program for student-athletes. She also served as Director of Athletics at Cheyney University, Director of Women’s Athletics at Hofstra University, Director of Aquatics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and head women’s Swimming and Diving Coach at Yale University. She was the first woman president of a collegiate football organization.

Among her numerous awards and recognitions Dr. Atkinson was inducted into the WCU Athletic Hall of Fame (1990), was presented with a WCU President’s Award Leadership and Service (2009), and was honored as one of the 150 Most Influential Women of West Chester University (2022).