“这真的感觉像是兜了个圈. My career started at Geneva, now I am toward the end of my career, back at Geneva. In between, God has provided work, growth, friends, and incredible opportunities throughout my life.”
朱迪·威尔逊, 现任研究生和在线招生主任, 会入选大学体育传播名人堂吗, 2023届毕业生, 6月12日在奥兰多举行的典礼上, 佛罗里达. This award demonstrates the incredible work and leadership 朱迪 has displayed throughout her career in sports information.
朱迪第一次来bwin体育时还是个学生, 我本来是医学预科学生, 希望成为一名儿科医生. 朱迪 had been the manager for her high school basketball team and always had an interest in sports, but the idea of a career in sports was not something at the forefront of her mind, 或者她当时认为可能发生的事.
In her freshman year, 朱迪 became part of the basketball stats crew at Geneva. 1986年春天，我大二的时候, 她定期写摘要, 新闻稿, 和体育传播的统计部分一起工作.
这都是在计算机统计程序出现之前. 我会坐在打字机前，打出所有的发行版本. 到大四的时候，我在校园里做了三份工作. I worked in the PR Department, the 体育运动 Department, and in the Student Center at the front desk.”
朱迪 fondly shares a memory of typing at her dad’s typewriter when she was just two years old. “Who knew at the time writing would become such a large part of my life and career.”
她早年在bwin体育的经历教会了她比赛日的运作, 合规, and a lot of behind-the-scenes pieces of athletics many students do not get to see. It was working in these areas that in her senior year of college 朱迪 realized this could become a career.
After graduating with a psychology degree with minors in public relations and business, 朱迪 went on to graduate studies at Northwest Missouri State University where she was a graduate assistant in athletics. Here 朱迪 learned to work with the media, pitch story ideas, and do the stories herself.
From there, 朱迪 launched into a 30-year career in Sports Management and Sports Information. 在她的一生中，有无数的机会, 职位, 奖, 还有值得注意的时刻, 但朱迪想起了几个特别突出的例子.
朱迪’s first full-time 经历 were at the Mid-America Collegiate 体育运动 Association, 和东新墨西哥大学. 朱迪, 在她职业生涯的早期, helped host the NCAA II National Softball Tournament three years in a row, 了解了NCAA的内部运作, 并获得了体育管理硕士学位. At both institutions, 朱迪 was the very first full-time Sports Information Director. 体育信息是田径运动中迅速发展的职业道路, 朱迪在很多方面为她铺平了道路.
总的来说，体育信息和运动是, 在某种程度上，现在仍然如此, 一个男性占多数的职业领域.
“当你想到体育运动时，你不会想到女性领导力. 在年度大会上参加大型会议, one of my 的同事们 and I were almost always the only two women in the room. We were very deliberate to make sure when we saw other young women that we included them and encouraged them. bwin体育已经取得了很大的进步, 还有一段路要走, but there are definitely glass ceilings that continue to gradually be broken in this field.”
当朱迪申请并寻求她事业的下一步时, at times she was met with obstacles and frustration because of the lack of representation in the field.
“I had never really considered jobs at a D1 level because up until this point I was barely getting interviews. 我得到面试机会是因为我是“女性候选人”.’ It was frustrating to know I was the only female candidate and that was why I got the interview, 但我接受了那些采访, 经历, and 职位 opened doors for other women to get interviews and jobs in the field, so I am fine that I experienced those frustrations because it led to good.”
At this point in 朱迪’s career 10 out of 260 NCAA Division II schools had female sports information directors. 朱迪 was fighting an uphill battle against long-standing gender norms in athletics.
在取得了许多成就并获得了DII运动的世界第一之后, 朱迪 unexpectedly made the jump to DI and spent the majority of her career, 23年, 在DI学校工作.
One of 朱迪’s most notable 经历 was living in Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. 朱迪 had recently taken a position at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) after spending four and a half years working for the Sun Belt Conference in New Orleans.
“Being in the sports world of New Orleans was so fun because so many major sporting events came to the city. 那里的团队就像一个家庭，bwin体育都互相帮助. In 2005, when Katrina hit, the college staffs I worked with became scattered. 值得庆幸的是，bwin体育没有失去任何人，但那是一段艰难的时期.”
One of the 奖 朱迪 has received throughout her career was related to her work and service to the community during this challenging time, she was presented with the Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award for helping the athletics communications community during Hurricane Katrina.
朱迪 comments that 的同事们 from around Louisiana truly became a family and many of them still keep in touch to this day.
通过奖项, 促销活动, 以及领导角色, 朱迪 still looks to the students she got to know as having the greatest impact on her and is truly what has motivated her throughout her career.
“在竞争中总是有输赢. The greatest wins are the successes in the students’ lives after graduation or things they did in school to make their education better. To be able to be involved in that and help with that part is a big part of it; it is why I do it.”
朱迪对许多学生的生活产生了持久的影响, 教练, 的同事们, 以及整个行业. Being a trailblazer comes with difficulties but leaves lots to be proud of.
“The thing I am proudest of the most is the impact I have tried to make on the profession. I am so proud of the many young women who have made a path in the business and have become leaders and went on to make their own differences in the business. 能成为其中的一小部分是一种荣誉. 很多人都在做妻子, 一个妈妈, 以及他们的职业生涯, 所以他们必须在报道事件的方式上有创意, 支持他们的团队, 照顾好他们的家人. 我为这个行业有更多的女性感到骄傲. ……很重要。. 我还感到自豪的是，这个行业的男性已经学会了适应, 这对他们作为丈夫的角色也有好处, dads, 和同事.”
Although 朱迪’s full-time career in sports information has come to a close, her impact has not. 朱迪现在是研究生和在线招生主任, 仍然在帮助学生们继续他们的学业，实现他们的目标.
除了她的全职工作, 朱迪 volunteers with Geneva’s athletics department as an assistant in the sports information office, 在女子高尔夫球队做志愿者, 在排球和篮球比赛中担任记分员, 还有其他任务.
“我在这一切中看到了上帝的手. The open and shut doors along the way have been God revealing His plan to me. 现在我可以回到一切开始的bwin体育了, 把我的技能用在体育运动上, 和我在比弗瀑布的家人在一起, 开始新的冒险，继续为学生服务.”
