Dr. Fay is a Professor and former Chair of the Sport Management Department at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a M.P.A. in Public Affairs from the University of Oregon, a B.A. in Government from St. Lawrence University (NY). He currently serves as a Special Advisor to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and advises the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on Inclusive Sport. In addition to being a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) for the Inclusive Sports Initiative, Dr. Fay is also Vice President of the Board of Directors of Adaptive Sports New England and a member of the Advisory Council for the Sport and Development Project at Brown University.
He has focused much of his scholarly work in the areas of social and public policy, sport governance, leadership, sport for development and strategic management. A particular focus in his research, advocacy and activism have been placed on diversity and social justice issues involving a sport context with a particular emphasis on individuals with disabilities. He completed his doctoral dissertation in 1999 entitled: Race, gender, and disability: A new paradigm towards full participation and equal opportunity in sport. Dr. Fay was a keynote speakers at the 2011 NCAA Scholarly Colloquium at which he delivered an address entitled: Disability in Sport It’s Our Time: From the Sidelines to the Frontlines (Title IX – B).
A former Paralympic (1980 – 1991) and Olympic (1988) coach and international cross country ski official (1988 – 2010), Dr. Fay has an extensive background in international sport including being active in the Olympic and Paralympic movements. Fay is recognized as an international expert on issues related to the integration and inclusion of athletes with a disability in mainstream sport. He was involved in the drafting Article 30.5 of the United Nations Convention on the Human Rights for Persons with a Disability (2007) that addresses the right of full inclusion of persons with a disability in all culture, leisure, recreation and sport activities as a universal right. Fay was also involved in the development of new guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in January 2013 regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities in scholastic and intercollegiate sports.