Amanda DiDONATO
Robin CUNNINGHAM
ASSOC. DIR., ACADEMIC SUPPORT • THIRD SEASON SETON HALL UNIVERSITY ‘07
ACADEMIC & LIFE SKILLS CONSULTANT • 30th SEASON SETON HALL UNIVERSITY ‘78
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manda DiDonato enters her second season as Associate Director of Academic Support Services for Student-Athletes after spending four years as an Academic Advisor at Seton Hall. In 2012-13, DiDonato helped four Pirates Patrik Auda, Haralds Karlis, Brandon Mobley, and Kyle Smyth - earn BIG EAST Academic All-Star recognition. DiDonato serves as the link between Seton Hall’s academic community and the men’s basketball program. She serves as a mentor for student-athletes in their academic careers in addition to coordinating all tutoring sessions. Di Donato works closely with each player by monitoring their academic progress and guiding them through their respective courses of study. She keeps them on a straight path to earning their degree by instilling time-management and study skill strategies. DiDonato also teaches the freshmen seminar course for student-athletes and mentors over 30 freshman student-athletes. A 2007 Seton Hall graduate, DiDonato was a four-year member of the Pirates’ women’s soccer team. During her time as an undergraduate, she worked within Seton Hall’s sports medicine department where she assisted athletic trainers both on the playing field and in the training room. An extremely active member of the Seton Hall community, DiDonato has served on the Mary Jennings Scholarship Promotions Committee, acted as a scholar-athlete mentor and worked extensively within Seton Hall’s community service program.
66 | Seton Hall Men’s Basketball
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obin Cunningham, a former standout student-athlete at Seton Hall and member of the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame, assists the men’s basketball program as an academic and life skills consultant. Cunningham currently works for Seton Hall in the Freshman Studies Department as a Mentor and the Director of the Seton Summer Scholars program. She was the university’s Director of Academic Support Services for Student-Athletes from 1984-2004. Cunningham’s work with Pirate student-athletes was widely recognized, both nationally and within the Seton Hall community. She was honored in 1991 with the Outstanding Adviser Award as presented by ACT/NACADA, the national organization for Academic Advisers. She received a Distinguished Service Award in April of 1994 from the Ernst and Young Law Symposium at the Seton Hall Law School and received the President’s Award for Excellence in Service to Students for an administrator in May, 1996. Cunningham was honored by the men’s basketball program with its “Most Valuable Person” award. In 2005, Cunningham was recognized as the Woman of the Year by the university community. Most recently, she received the Alunni Humanitarian Award from the University in 2008. Between 1995 and 2000, Cunningham served as the chair of the Selection Committee for the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference. The purpose of the Leadership Conference is to bring studentathletes together from across the country to
share experiences and learn how to create change on their own campuses through community based leadership strategies. Cunningham was the first woman ever to receive an athletic scholarship to Seton Hall, and was also the first inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984. She finished her basketball career with 1,003 points, which currently ranks her 16th on the all-time scoring list. In 1981, she became the first Pirate women’s athlete to have her uniform number, 32, retired. Cunningham also played tennis and softball at Seton Hall, posting a 52-15 career record for the tennis team. Cunningham graduated in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in English, in 1984 earned her master’s degree in counseling and special services, and received her Ed. S. degree in secondary education in 1994.