Cline family helps student-athletes by creating leadership academy

Through a generous gift commitment, alumni Keith A. Cline, Jr. ‘92 ‘02, and Stephanie L. Cline ‘94 recently created the Keith A. Jr. and Stephanie L. Cline Athletics Leadership Academy.

Alumni couple Keith and Stephanie Cline established the Cline Athletics Leadership Academy with a generous gift.

The Academy will provide coaches and staff the tools to make a difference in the lives and careers of University of Akron student-athletes. It will offer them year-round opportunities for advancement in five key areas:

• leadership training,
• career development,
• community engagement,
• personal enrichment, and
• letter-winner engagement.

As part of the Leadership Academy, the University’s letter winners, Varsity “A” members, will be integrated into the Academy and will be asked to serve as mentors to the University’s more than 500 student-athletes. The Department of Athletics also will be partnering with academic departments across campus to provide experiential learning and leadership development opportunities for student-athletes through the Academy.

Keith is president & CEO of CorePoint Lodging Inc., which owns a portfolio of 310 hotels throughout the United States. He earned two degrees from UA: a B.S. in accounting in 1992 and an MBA in 2002.

Stephanie earned a B.S. in social work from UA in 1994. She volunteers for several charitable organizations that focus on military veterans, spouses and caregivers, the abolishment of human trafficking, and current social and political issues.