Faculty

Dr. Cristina Fink
Bryn Mawr College

A distinguished sport psychologist and Olympian, Fink joins Bryn Mawr after spending the last two years as Associate Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Welfare at Rowan University. Her appointment comes following a national search chaired by Provost Timothy Harte.

During her time at Rowan, Fink has engaged with partners and stakeholders to deliver quality service to student-athletes in all areas of welfare, conduct, and academics. She has developed and implemented mental health policies and protocols, supervised coaches and day-to-day management of selected varsity athletics teams, overseen the department's academic tracking system, and provided mental performance services to Rowan's student-athletes. Fink also created the Social Justice Action Group at Rowan and served as the advisor to two student-athlete BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ support groups.

Prior to her work at Rowan, Fink was the director of sport psychology for YSC/Union Youth Development for almost ten years. There, she planned and oversaw the administration of mental skills training to Philadelphia Union, Bethlehem Steel, YSC's Player Development Program, the Philadelphia Union Academy, Union Juniors, and Union Futures programs. Fink also supported the Union soccer club by working with first-team athletes under the guidance of the team's coaching staff. Prior to that, Fink also gained professional experiences as a mental performance consultant for Drexel University athletics and as the athletic director for The American School of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Fink is a two-time Olympian high jumper, having represented Mexico at both the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Games. She also held the Mexican high jump record at 6'4" for 22 years. Following her athletic career, she went on to serve as the performance psychologist for the Mexican Olympic team and worked with athletes at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic Games.

The author of a number of published papers and books, and a keynote speaker at many national and international conferences, Fink is also the performance psychology director for the Football Science Institute (FSI).

Fink earned her B.S. in psychology and a B.A. in family and consumer resources from the University of Arizona. She was a two-time All-American in track & field in her athletics career at Arizona and was the recipient of their Golden Eagle Award for Academic and Athletic Excellence. She then earned her master's degree and a Ph.D. in performance psychology from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) in Madrid, Spain. She also earned an honorary doctorate from Universidad SIATI in Mexico and has earned certificates in diversity, equity, and inclusion and neurodiversity pedagogy and practice from Rowan.

"I know that Cristina will build on the successes our teams and the entire Athletic Department experienced under former Athletic Director Kathy Tierney's leadership," says Bryn Mawr President Kim Cassidy. "Cristina brings new and exciting expertise to the Athletic Director position and an enthusiasm for the mission of Bryn Mawr. I look forward to working with her in supporting our student athletes, coaches, and athletic department staff."  Fink will begin her term as Bryn Mawr's Athletic Director in July.