Dr. David Stevens Named New Academic Director
By Jeanne Acton, UIL Journalism Director | Wednesday, February 22, 2012 3:26 PM
Dr. David Stevens
The new UIL Academic Director, Dr. David Stevens, wants academic coordinators and coaches to know he’s been in their shoes.
“I’ve been stuck on the online entry system – trying to figure out how it works,” he said. “I’ve forgotten my UTEID. I’ve missed the deadline to set up our UIL meet. I know what they are going through.”
As a former teacher, academic coordinator, Spring Meet chair and school administrator, Stevens has been in the chaos and understands how hard it all can be.
“I know teachers are at school from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for all of their classes, and then after school all of the extra stuff, like UIL, comes in,” he said. “Teachers have the best intentions to make deadlines and fill out paperwork, but once they walk in through the school door, all these fires happen. They have to deal with real life.”
That’s where Stevens plans to step in.
“I want to be there to help them out — to remind them when things are due, to help them with the process,” he said.
Stevens will officially take the reins of academic director full-time on March 19, the first week of academic district meets. Stevens is replacing Treva Dayton, who retired on Jan. 31.
“I am very excited and just as scared and nervous,” he said. “This is a position that affects many across the state. I will be working closely with the UIL staff to do everything we can to ensure success for UIL participants as well as continuously evaluate what improvements can be made in Academic activities for teachers and students across the state.”
UIL Executive Director Charles Breithaupt is confident Stevens will be a success at UIL and for all of the students it serves.
"I am excited about the selection of Dr. David Stevens as UIL Academic Director,” Breithaupt said. “He brings a vast array of knowledge and expertise to the UIL team. Dr. Stevens has received numerous awards and honors in his role in several school districts. These honors signify that many others in our state recognize his valuable contributions to extracurricular activities. His enthusiasm and passion for all UIL activities has been evident throughout his career.”
Some of Stevens’ awards and honors include Founders’ Award from the Texas Educational Theatre Association (2012), Art Supervisor of the Year from the Texas Art Educators’ Association (2011), Teacher of the Year at Southlake Carroll High School (2002), UIL Sponsor Excellence Award Nominee (2000) and many more.
Stevens’ relationship with the UIL started more than 30 years ago when he was in elementary school and he participated in storytelling, oral reading and other events.
At his small 2A high school — Rotan High School, Stevens’ participation in UIL flourished. He belonged to just about every team imaginable — the football team, the band, the math team, the journalism team, the speech and debate team, the One-Act Play team and more.
“I loved coming from a small school,” he said. “I truly did get to do everything.”
And that worked out perfectly for his home life, too.
“My parents owned a feedlot; so when I wasn’t at school, I was working at the feedlot,” he said. “I quickly learned that if I signed up for more events and activities, I wouldn’t be home to work at the feedlot.”
During his junior year, he even went so far as to ask the academic coordinator to put him in any UIL contest that wasn’t full. That’s how he ended up in the Editorial Writing Contest. He won second at district and went to regionals.
“I had never written an editorial in my life, but it was a contest that was open; so I signed up,” he said.
Stevens had more success that year than just in journalism. He went to State for Standard Debate, which is now called Cross Examination Debate. The following year, his senior year, he went to UIL State for One-Act Play.
Those four years of participation and competition left Stevens with many friends and many fond memories. One of his fondest memories of UIL competition was getting up at the crack of dawn to ride a yellow school bus to some practice competition hours away from his little West Texas town.
“We had a rule – if the bus had to leave before 5 a.m., the meet was too far away,” he said.
Those long bus rides gave Stevens the opportunity “to make lasting friendships with some of the best people I’ve ever known.”
“I still keep in contact with many of them today,” he said.
As Stevens entered the world of college at the University of Texas at Austin, he continued his relationship with UIL. He worked as a student assistant in the League’s drama loan library and in the mailroom.
“Collating spring meet materials was not the most exciting job, but I was energized by the understanding that a student’s life — somewhere in a small school, in a secluded part of the state — would be enlightened and influenced because of his or her UIL participation,” said Stevens, who was a TILF (Texas Interscholastic League Foundation) scholarship recipient.
After college, Stevens accepted a position at Central High School in San Angelo as the theatre teacher, where he won his first UIL State Championship for One-Act Play.
From there, Stevens went to the University of Oklahoma to earn his master’s degree. He returned to Texas to teach in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
As a campus UIL Academic Coordinator, Stevens led a non-existent academic program to two state academic championships.
In 2002, Stevens was hired to be the Director of Fine Arts in the Keller Independent School District. There, he served as the UIL Spring Meet chair and was the district level UIL Academic Coordinator. He also operated a successful A+ Program directing the contest for 22 elementary and 11 intermediate and middle school campuses all in one day at four different locations.
While at Keller ISD, Stevens’ received his Ed.D from the University of North Texas.
“UIL was also the inspiration for my doctoral dissertation that was an historical analysis of the UIL, focusing on administrator and teacher perceptions of a 20-year span of changes in the rules and procedures of the One-Act Play Contest,” he said.
While writing his dissertation, Stevens said one of the most amazing things he learned was that every single UIL rule change and/or proposal goes through an extensive amount of evaluation.
“None of the change proposals are taken lightly,” he said. “UIL processes make sure that every new rule or new change is as fair and equitable to all students as possible. I saw the purpose and reason for every rule while doing my dissertation.”
As Stevens prepares to leave Keller ISD and take on his new leadership role at UIL, he said he has many goals for the UIL academics.
“My first goal is to learn what everyone is doing and understand the whole history,” he said. “I’ve been very involved with UIL for the past 20 years, but I was an outside participant. I really am interested in learning the operations from the inside out.”
Stevens said he is looking forward to working with the staff to see where things can be improved and what new things can be implemented.
“I want to make sure we are accessible to every student in Texas,” he said.
With technology advancing so quickly, Stevens said he wants to make sure the League stays current with this new generation of students.
“I am amazed that every kid and adult has a mini-computer in their pocket,” he said. “I want to see where can we make things viable, useful, fun and exciting.
“I want to evaluate if students taking a written test on a Saturday is the best means we have of capturing their interest in UIL activities,” he said. “How long will that format be appealing to them and what other types of Academic contests or activities can we possibly consider for the future?”
For Stevens, finding these solutions will be the exciting part of his job.
“I want to keep on the front end of things,” he said. “I want to stay one step ahead of the youth.”