Christine Grant, a long-time educator and athletic administrator at the University of Iowa, died on December 31 at Bird House – Hospice Home of Johnson County in Iowa. She was 85 years old.
A native of Bo’ness, Scotland, Grant was a graduate of the Dunfermline College of Physical Education in Scotland. She left Scotland for Canada where she helped develop the first national women’s field hockey team and the Canadian Field Hockey Association.
Dr. Grant came to the University of Iowa in 1968. After earning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, she was named director of the women’s athletic department at the university. In her early year, as an administrator, she also coached the university’s field hockey team. During her tenure as director of the women’s athletic department, she directed 12 women’s athletics programs that combined to win 27 Big Ten championships and the 1986 NCAA field hockey national championship. The field hockey facility at the university was named in her honor in 1991.
Dr. Grant served as president of the Association of Intercollege Athletics for Women and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators. She was named one of the one hundred most influential sports educators in America by the Institute of International Sport.
Dr. Grant stepped down as director of the women’s athletic department in 2000 and the university then merged the men’s and women’s departments into one entity. She continued to teach at the university for another six years. In 2019, an elementary school in North Liberty, Iowa, was renamed in her honor.