Graduate Students Invited to Women Leaders in College Sports Conference

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Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Development Lauren Hawkins (middle) at the Women Leaders in College Sports Conference.

Women pursuing careers in college sports at the U of A recently attended a conference to build community connections, attend leadership training and discuss how to achieve success in a male-dominated field.

Women Leaders in College Sports invited women of all experience levels working in college sports to Kansas City to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX. The conference had a record-breaking number of attendees, which included five women graduate students in the Recreation and Sport Management program who also work as graduate assistants or full-time professionals with the U of A athletic department: Lauren Hawkins, Syntyche Laguerre, Nicole Edison, Erin Cox and Icelda Tovar-Beltran.

As a graduate assistant planning to enter the realm of athletic administration, Tovar-Beltran said she was thrilled to network with other women in her field. She said she left feeling reassured after connecting with mothers who advised her on balancing her dreams of parenthood and a career in sports.

Hawkins, assistant director of student-athlete development, said networking with other professionals is crucial for women working in college sports. The chance to talk to other people with experience in her new role was helpful as she learns to lead from her position.

"One thing that really stuck with me is the idea that you can lead from any seat. Anyone can be a culture changer," she said. "I left empowered and with a new community of individuals working towards making the student-athlete experience great."

Cox, a graduate student in the Recreation and Sport Management program and graduate assistant with the U of A Athletic Department, said hearing from trailblazers in women's sports was uplifting and enlightening. The Athletic Department's support for her attendance was encouraging.

"Derita Ratcliffe Dawkins, our assistant vice chancellor, deputy AD for student-athlete wellness, senior women administrator and chief diversity officer, is a trailblazer in her own right and made it possible for us to attend," Cox said. "Our RESM faculty were supportive and happy to excuse the absences. A lot of institutions talk about investment, but the U of A is making it happen."

Cox noted that there is still a glaring gap in resources, investment and power between men's and women's sports. Relaying a quote from one of the event's panelists, Mollie Marcoux Samaan, Cox said, "Everyone wants to talk about the gap in outputs when it comes to men's and women's sports, such as ticket sales, revenue, etc., but we fail to talk about the gap in inputs.

"As powerful as Title IX has been, we must continue fighting for the equitable inputs women's sports deserve. That's a burden I'll gladly bear throughout my career."