Working with students like the one mentioned in the article below is another reason why I love what I am doing.
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/12/iupui/21-intelligence-academic-all-americans.html I couldn’t have asked for a better mentorship experience. The only thing that would have made it better would be to get a permanent job at IUPUI in the athletic department. My favorite moments include:
Denise was honest and transparent about her journey and helped me come up with a game plan for my career. She is one of my biggest cheerleaders and I have continued volunteering and connecting with Denise since the official mentorship part of this experience ended. I am sure Denise is someone I will be in touch with in the years to come. I am truly grateful for this experience and for this program. I consider it a privilege. I attended a press event along with the other Athletic Department Staff. This is a big deal for IUPUI as they moved from the Summit League to the Horizon League, which became official July 21, 2017. This connects to how Dr. Perry has emphasized promoting the university and athletic events giving it more visibility and broadening its support over the years. As the article (link below) shares, this move solidifies the university’s community partnerships in Indianapolis and is a solid move forward for university giving it more visibility and potential to generate more revenue.
League members now include Cleveland State University, the University of Detroit Mercy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Northern Kentucky University, Oakland University, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State University and Youngstown State University. In the Summit League, IUPUI’s primary competitors included University of Denver, University of Nebraska, Omaha, North Dakota State University, Oral Roberts University, University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, and Western Illinois University. The Summit League now looking to expand since IUPUI’s departure. Check the link below for the official press release about this major event. http://www.iupuijags.com/news/2017/6/27/general-iupui-to-become-tenth-member-of-horizon-league.aspx There is a lot to be said about eligibility for student athletes and has been a topic of discussion in the media over the year. There are many NCAA rules student-athletes must meet in order to be eligible to practice and compete. Student-athletes must comply with the following NCAA eligibility rules:
Not complying with these rules is where we sometimes have to work through challenges with coaches and encourage them to support the student from an academic perspective too. I mentioned study table requirements as well and here is an outline of those requirements: Student-athletes have the option of fulfilling their study hours via a combination of any of the following activities:
At least two of the required study hours per week must be fulfilled by attending a study lab session. Note: No cell phones or iPods are permitted in study tables. No cell phones, iPods, or laptop computers are permitted in the athletics study rooms. Failure to abide by these rules will result in dismissal from the session and no credit for the time spent in that session. Monitoring study table environment is a responsibility I had during this experience as mentioned in a previous post. I had mentioned that one of my duties would include helping to promote events. This was primarily handled by passing out fliers around the campus while conducing class checks. I would also get involved in handling communications with students that had to go out.
After attending several Athletic Departments Meetings I wanted to summarize what I learned and observed. Most time is spent not only how to market events and get more visibility to the athletic department and university, but also review all department happening and highlights, including academic updates, schedules, upcoming events, meetings with head coaches regarding what’s going on the campus, and what’s going on with the team and athletes including injuries, signing up for classes, alumni, and generating revenue. I take meeting notes when I attend and share with the larger team.
I thought it was interesting how the academic department worked with the other departments, which you don’t often see in work environments in general. Since IUPUI isn’t a large school, I believe this influenced why teams worked together. The academic department manages a lot of the compliance related issues alongside the Associate Athletic Director who reports to the Athletic Director, Dr. Perry. I believe it is handled this way because IUPUI is not a big school. It was good for me to get experience from the academic side along with compliance because many times these two areas are separated into two different departments. This has been an interesting learning journey so far.
I completed a special yet very simple project for Denise, which gave me additional insights into the ins and outs of the department. I updated the student’s contact info, graduation status, GPA in the NCAA system for compliance reasons. This was one of my favorite projects because I got to learn more about the students and their progression and determine if there was a pattern. For example, I could see if students excelled during season or off season. I noticed that off season grades were lower, which was an interesting observation was. In essence, I was able to see patterns of growth in students. I am very analytical and love statistics so this was an interesting project for me.
I got the opportunity to meet with Gail Barksdale, the Associate Athletic Director, for the entire Athletics department. I had applied for an administrative position which would report directly to her. Ms. Barksdale wanted to meet with me to discuss the position. She provided great feedback about the impact I was making supporting the students in academics and she thought I was a better fit working with student athletes, not in an administrative position. I appreciated the feedback and it confirmed the path I believe I should take in collegiate athletics. Supporting academics is my first and foremost passion. Working in marketing or operations would be my second choice.
Unfortunately, since I have been interning at IUPUI, there haven’t been any open positions on the academic side of the athletic department because my mentor said she would hire me in a heartbeat. I decided to continue volunteering and apply for positions both at IUPUI and at other universities. This week I had to reflect and think about some of my observations. You hear about the NCAA rules but sometimes the university rules can be even more stringent. For example, as it relates to academic eligibility, the NCAA required a GPA of at least a 2.0, while IUPUI requires a GPA of 2.5 or higher. Having the minimum NCAA GPA rule doesn’t mean you will get into the school of your choice. Battles sometimes occur between the coaches and the academic department because when student athletes are maintaining their end of the deal, it creates challenges for the coaches because they can’t play. It can get political but it was interesting to experience and observe first hand. I encourage students to stay on track because a slacking can be costly. I am also honest with the students and have some great talks with them about considering their future while balancing academics and athletics.
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