Rin Curtis ’76 Seibert

Rin Curtis ’76 Seibert, former director of recreational sports and associate director of athletics, passed away Aug. 21, 2020.

Rin retired in February 2020 after leading recreational sports at Valpo for four decades. She was hired to her post in August 1980 and was elevated from an assistant director of athletics to an associate director of athletics in August 2017.

Rin received the NIRSA Regional Award of Merit for Outstanding Contributions to Region III in 2016, the Panhellenic Council Excellence in Teaching Award in 2015, and the Valparaiso University Outstanding Service Award for 30 years of service in 2010. She also served as a member of Valpo’s faculty, instructing undergraduate courses in the Department of Kinesiology.

After graduating from Valpo in 1976 with a degree in physical education, Rin spent two years as an assistant director at the Valparaiso Family YMCA, where she helped build the competitive gymnastics program. She then took on a graduate assistantship in recreational sports at Indiana University in Bloomington, where she earned her master’s in recreation in 1979. She earned the 2017 Interscholastic Athletic Official Award for excellence in the sport of gymnastics.

Rin’s Valpo legacy will live on through the Rin Seibert Scholarship, an initiative spearheaded by the Valpo volleyball program and head coach Carin Avery during the 2019 season. The program set out to recognize Rin’s courage and faith through her battles with cancer and to thank her for her longtime support of Valpo volleyball, Valpo Athletics, and the Department of Kinesiology by raising funds for a scholarship in her name.