• Thurston Banks Award History
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Dr. Jim Davis of Eastern Illinois University and
Lindsey Schmidt of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville have been named the recipients of the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Thurston Banks Award for Distinguished Academic Service.
The award, selected by the OVC Faculty Athletics Representatives (FARs), was established in 2013 to recognize individuals (e.g. academic advisor, professor, tutor, etc.), with at least five years of service at one or more OVC member institutions, for their outstanding contributions to OVC student-athletes' academic success, learning and development as well for his or her overall commitment to the institution's athletics program.
The award is named after Dr. Thurston Banks, who served the Tennessee Tech Department of Athletics for 31 of his 34 years on the faculty and served as the Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) for 25 years before stepping down in 2006. He was inducted into the OVC Hall of Fame in 2007.
Davis was appointed to the position of Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) at Eastern Illinois in June 2011. He is an Associate Professor of Geography and serves as the Chair of the Geology and Geography Department.
As FAR, Davis has always been a strong advocate for the student-athletes of Eastern Illinois and works with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), including serving as a liaison to the OVC SAAC group. He also serves on the National Faculty Athletics Representative Association Executive Board and is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference Sports Management Cabinet.
In addition to his role as FAR, Davis works with EIU athletics as an Instant Replay technician for basketball and clock operator for football games. He has also worked as the instant replay technician for the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championships and the NCAA Division II Final Four.
Davis holds a doctorate from Kansas State, a master’s from Oklahoma State and a bachelor’s degree from Northwest Missouri State.
Schmidt has served the SIUE Department of Athletics as an academic advisor since 2008. Her focus includes advising students athletes in areas such as career and leadership development, campus resource acquisition, and class schedule planning.
Her work does not stop at academic advising, as she has worked with the Student-Athlete Advising Committee (SAAC) to shine light on the importance of the student-athletes’ presence within game time and in the community. She initiated the Leadership Development Academy at SIUE that selects student-athletes to expand their leadership abilities and increase team performance yearly.
Her work has played a big part in SIUE having a streak of 35 semesters of having a departmental GPA over 3.0.
Schmidt was a volleyball student-athlete at UT Martin (1999-03). She graduated with a degree in psychology and earned her master’s degree in sports exercise and behavior from SIUE in 2009.