Kevin McHugh, who has served as the director of athletics at The College of New Jersey since 1987, has been named the athletic director and chair of the physical education department at Bates College in Lewiston.

He had also been the executive director for student development and campus programs in recent years.

The 50-year-old McHugh succeeds Dana Mulholland, who has served as interim athletic director for the last year after replacing Suzanne Coffey. Coffey had been the AD from 1991-2006.

McHugh, a native of Wharton, N.J., will assume the position on July 1.

Bates President Elaine Tuttle Hansen said in a press release, “Kevin McHugh comes to Bates with a well-earned and wide-ranging reputation as a strategic thinker, a hard worker and a strong leader both at The College of New Jersey and on the national college sports scene. His life and career exemplify the finest qualities of athletic leadership, and we are very pleased that he will be joining Bates as director of athletics.”

McHugh said he was ” honored, gratified and excited” to be the new AD at Bates.

“Each visit to the campus further solidified my previous perceptions of the Bates community. My interactions with members of the search committee, the department of athletics and the student-athletes convinced me that Bates is a special place,” said McHugh.

Snyder earns academic honor

Winterport’s Lindsey Snyder, a junior on the Central Connecticut State women’s swimming team, has been named the Northeast Conference’s women’s swimming scholar-athlete award winner.

A former College of Swim Coaches of America Association Academic All-American, Snyder is an elementary education major.

All NEC scholar-athlete award winners must have earned a minimum of 60 semester hours, maintained a 3.20 grade-point average and participated with distinction in a varsity sport.

Snyder, a junior CCSU captain, has won 10 NEC swimming championships including both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke this winter. She qualified for the U.S. Nationals this spring in both backstroke events.

Beers in the running for Colby

Jared Beers of Kittery has been named head coach of the Colby College men’s cross country and track and field teams.

Beers is a 2001 Colby graduate who has been the teams’ assistant coach for three years and interim head coach last year. He broke two school records while running at Colby (in the 400 meters and 1,600 relay) as a captain during his junior and senior seasons.