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ECAC Commissioner Rudy Keeling and Associate Commissioner Dea Shipps will be honored by the All-American Football Foundation at its 97th Banquet of Champions. Keeling will receive the Asa S. Bushnell Outstanding Commissioner Award, and Shipps will receive the Outstanding Associate Commissioner Award.

The Banquet of Champions will be held on Thursday , December 11, 2008, at the Marriott Hotel in Newton Mass. The banquet begins with a reception at 6:00 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:45 p.m. The banquet is dedicated to Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy (D-MA) and Commissioner Keeling.

Keeling became the seventh commissioner of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) on May 1, 2007, and the first African-American to assume this prestigious position. 

Most recently serving as the Director of Athletics at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, Keeling brings to the ECAC over twenty-five years of experience in collegiate athletics.  Named to the position at Emerson in October of 2002, Keeling, through cooperative work with the City of Boston, oversaw the development of multi-million dollar state-of-the-art athletic facilities.  The creation of these structures enabled the College to make significant enhancements to its Athletics Department and increase the number of varsity athletic teams. In addition to his responsibilities at Emerson, Keeling was also a member of the ECAC Board of Directors where he served as Chair of the Marketing Committee. 

Keeling is currently a member of several NCAA committees. He serves as the chair of the Minority Opportunity and Interests Committee and the chair of the Division III subcommittee on membership issues. He is also a member of the NCAA strategic planning and finance committee and the NCAA nominating committee. In addition, he serves on the NCAA management council. Keeling is on the Board of Directors of the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) and is a member of the Conference Commissioners Association for Division I, II and III.

A graduate of Quincy College, where he majored in history, Keeling began his professional career in 1980 as an assistant men's basketball coach at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. In addition to his assistant coaching responsibilities, he planned and created the Academic Assistance Program for Student/Athletes.  In 1986, he was named the assistant men's basketball coach at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

In 1988, Keeling began his head coaching career at the University of Maine, Orono.  He guided the Black Bears until 1996, when he was named the head men's basketball coach at Northeastern University in Boston, a position he held until April of 2002.  Throughout his tenure as a head coach, Keeling has demonstrated his high level of commitment to the academic and athletic success of student-athletes, graduating almost every student-athlete he ever coached. 

Shipps began as the Associate Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Senior Woman Administrator at the ECAC in February of 2008.  She is responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the ECAC conference office and supervises all aspects of internal operations, while reporting to the commissioner. Shipps is responsible for overseeing ECAC championships, communications, finance, hockey and rowing, and the annual trade show and convention. Shipps will begin serving on the NCAA Division III Infractions Committee in January 2009.   

Shipps came to the ECAC from the NCAA where she served as an Assistant Director of Enforcement since 2004. Prior to that, she worked as an assistant athletic director at Chicago
State University from 2001-2004. While there, Shipps worked in compliance and as a student-athlete advisor. Before moving into administration, Shipps was the head women's cross country and track and field coach at Chicago State from 1999-2002.

Shipps is a 1996 graduate of Chicago State with a degree in English. She also received her master's degree from Chicago State and graduated magna cum laude in 1999. In 2007, Shipps began pursuing a doctorate in organizational leadership at Indiana Wesleyan University.