The central office of the University Athletic Association is hosted by the University of Rochester and located at 575 Mount Hope Avenue.
Dick Rasmussen serves as Executive Vice President of the Association and is assisted by two full-time staff members. Melissa Curtis is the Assistant Director for Operations and Member Services, and Tim Farrell serves as Sports Information Director.
Normal office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Voicemail is available for all calls received outside normal office hours or when staff is not avaialble.
Mailing Address: 575 Mount Hope Avenue • Rochester, NY 14620
Phone: (585) 275-2585
UAA Staff:
Dick Rasmussen, Executive Vice President
Dick Rasmussen has served as Executive Vice President of the University Athletic Association since the Association began official operations in July of 1987. Prior to assuming his leadership role in the Association he served as Head Baseball Coach and Business Manager for the Department of Sports and Recreation at the University of Rochester. In this capacity, he was a member of the planning group that shaped the original proposals for the formation of the UAA. During his 14-year career at Rochester, "Raz" also coached football for nine years and worked for several years as a computer programmer and research analyst in the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid. His 1980 Rochester Baseball squad was the first men’s team at the University to qualify for an NCAA Division III team championship.
As an undergraduate at the University of Rochester, Dick majored in chemistry while competing in football and baseball. During his senior year, he was the recipient of the Louis A. Alexander Award given to the outstanding male athlete at the University of Rochester. A former high school chemistry and physics teacher, he holds a Master’s degree in science education and a Doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Rochester. Complete Bio
Melissa Curtis, Assistant Director for Operations & Member Services
Melissa Curtis is the Assistant Director for Operations and Member Services in the UAA Office and in that capacity serves as office manager and assistant to the Executive Director. She has served in that capacity almost since the opening of the Association Office, joining the UAA staff in the summer of 1988. She oversees the Association's extensive awards and recognition programs, production of all Association publications, and the purchasing, accounting, and other day-to-day operations of the Association Office.
Prior to joining the UAA staff, Melissa worked in several University of Rochester departments including Security and Traffic, Medical Center Computing, and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. She also works as a professional photographer and does volunteer service in wild animal rescue and care.
Timothy Farrell, Sports Information Director
Timothy Farrell is in his second tenure as UAA Sports Information Director, returning in 2012 after serving as the Association's first full-time SID from 1992-2000. In addition to handling the day-to-day sports information duties, he also writes feature stories and authored the "UAA Conversations About Race and Racism" series in 2020-21.
He received the 2022 Fall Division III and D3SIDA Recognition Award for his story, "UAA Title IX Series: Rosalie Resch, University of Chicago Athletics." He also won the 2021 Spring Division III and D3SIDA Recognition Award for the race and racism series, and the 2019 Spring Division III and D3SIDA Recognition Award for his story titled, “University of Rochester Men's Tennis: Diversity on an International Level."
In 2020, he co-founded the UAA Staff Mosaic Committee, which brings together coaches, administrators, and athletic directors of color in the UAA for monthly discussions about the challenges of people of color in Division III. The Association was honored as the recipient of the March 2021 Division III Diversity Spotlight Initiative for the work of the committee. He works closely with the UAA Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition (BLAC) and works nationally on Black/Student-Athlete of Color issues.
Tim began his NCAA career with the UAA in 1992 when the concept of a conference Sports Information Director was relatively new in Division III. In 2000, he became the first Assistant Director for Conference Operations for the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). After a two-year stint with the NESCAC, Farrell served 10 years as the Empire 8 Athletic Conference’s Assistant Commissioner/Sports Information Director.
Now residing in Cleveland, Tim is an active member of several social justice organizations, including the Cuyahoga County Jail Coalition, Spirit of Mandela, Prison Lives Matter, The International Campaign to Free Kamau Sadiki Now, Love Not Phear Campaign to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, and, since 2012, a board member of GLSEN Northeast Ohio (which focuses on LGBTQ issues and education in schools).