In July 2019, Ryan Westman was promoted to the position of New York University’s Director of Academic and Student-Athlete Support Services & Compliance Officer in the Academic Affairs Office (now Office of Student-Athlete Excellence). Prior to this role, Ryan served as the Assistant Director of Academic and Student-Athlete Support Services since February 2018. He is currently the sport advisor for the Violets’ baseball, wrestling, and men's and women's cross country and track & field teams.
Westman previously served as an academic advisor and the Assistant Director of Academic Support Services for Student-Athletes at Seton Hall University (August 2011-February 2018) while also serving a Mentor with the Freshman Studies Program. While at Seton Hall, he worked with men’s and women's swimming and diving, women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, and men's golf.
Westman also currently serves as the Historian on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals (N4A), an affiliate of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). He will hold this position until 2021. Previously, he also served on the Board of Directors as the Region 1 Director from 2016-18. In his prior role, Westman was the liaison between the colleges and universities in the Northeastern United States and the Board.
Westman has overseen the development and implementation of three regional conferences during his tenure with N4A, which were held at New York University (2016), George Washington University (2017) and the University of Pennsylvania (2018). In addition to serving on the Board of Directors, Westman has made numerous presentations at regional and national conferences related to developing meaningful campus partnerships, practitioner-based research practices, student-athlete self-efficacy, supporting student-athletes with autism, as well as his personal research on equity in college athletics.
A 2006 graduate of Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, Westman was a four-year member of the Scarlet Knights’ track & field team, serving as a captain for the program's first-ever BIG EAST and IC4A Championship teams.
As a freshman, Westman qualified for the USATF Junior National Team in the 4x400m relay, which competed in the Pan American Junior Games in Barbados, and also earned Verizon Junior All-America honors in the 400m. In addition, Westman recorded the world’s fastest 500m time of the season (1:01.57) at the IC4A Indoor Championships at Boston University.
Westman was also a three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star and was inducted into the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017 along with the members of the 2004-05 men's track & field team.
Westman earned his Master’s of Education in elementary education (2007) and Master’s of Education in college student affairs (2011) from Rutgers, while also receiving his Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership, Management and Policy from Seton Hall in 2018. His research focused on the impact of policies and programs of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regarding Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Limited Resource Institutions in Division I.
A native of Ardmore, PA, Westman resides in West Orange, NJ, with his wife Nicole and their cats Simba, Bolt and Goober.
