The first director, Ellis Mendelsohn, was hired in 1953. He held that position for decades before Dale Ramsay took over in 1980. Ramsay retired in November after 41 years and proudly passed the position onto Justin Peterson, while joking Peterson should go for a new record and serve for 42 years.

Peterson completed his undergraduate degree at Michigan Central University, where he was a sports official and supervisor in the Intramural Sports program. He then became a graduate assistant in the Department of Recreational Sports at Indiana State University, where he received a MS in Recreation and Sport Management.

In 2010, Peterson began his career at UofL. As a longtime member of the Cardinal community, he’s well known for establishing the Special Olympics program here in 2016. His dedication to that initiative led to UofL’s unified basketball team becoming the first ever to represent Special Olympics Kentucky at the USA Game.

Peterson’s first title at UofL was coordinator for Intramural Sports. He worked under Ramsey, who quickly became an influential mentor, and was eventually promoted to assistant director of Intramural Sports and then to associate director of Facilities. He’s been involved in nearly every aspect of the Student Recreation Center’s programming.

Now, he’ll be overseeing the people who hold these positions that he once did. His leadership is respected among peers as he’s spent more than 10 years building trust across campus.

“Dale taught me a lot about relationship building because it’s a really big piece of the job. If people don’t know who you are, they’re not going to call on you. But, if they meet you and know that they can call on you, they learn that they can trust you. Being able to have those conversations and doing the small things for people will go a long way,” said Peterson.

Peterson doesn’t just do the “small things” for others, though, he goes the extra mile.Ìę While continuing cherished traditions like the Turkey Trot and Canoe Regatta, he’s also expanding programming to reach more students with varied interests. In this spirit, the name of the SRC’s department was recently changed from “Intramural and Recreational Sports Department” to “Campus Recreation.”Ìę

Their purpose is to “…improve the quality of life and sense of belonging for all members of the University of Louisville community,” so he feels that the new name more accurately represents what they’re about. He’s continuing to broaden the vision of inclusivity by working with other departments to create programs that reach people with interests beyond the fitness center, field and court.

One way he plans to do this is by offering more activities in nature, such as hiking trips, alternative breaks at outdoor recreation spots and community cleanups.Ìę

Peterson is fostering an environment that’s welcoming for everybody, while also addressing the holistic wellbeing of each person. He’s found that recreation can be a unique catalyst for getting students to open up about mental health.

“There are emotional health initiatives that we can do because one of the beauties of the sports setting is that you can break down some barriers. You’ve got people who might not be willing to open up and talk about things, but if you get them out on the basketball court, you can start having a conversation. You get to know a lot about a person and create a connection with them,” he said.

The SRC’s intramural sports teams and clubs have been a great avenue for the UofL community to do just that. There are more than 25 clubs, from ballroom dancing to basketball to badminton, where connections are being formed and students get to explore fitness while having fun.

The connections Peterson has built continue to benefit every program he’s involved in. With his drive and dedication, he may just break that 42-year record.Ìę

Fougerousse has served as the University of Louisville’s primary photographer for over 20 years and marked his 30^th anniversary with the institution this year, having onboarded as a biomedical photographer on the HSC campus in May of 1991.

He spent 10 years in that initial role, shooting photos of doctors mid-surgery among other duties. However, medical photography began to change when digital cameras became prolific, Fougerousse said, “because doctors could then shoot their own photos.”

And so he started to think about something new, which brought him to the Belknap Campus.

“I really liked the idea of working for UofL and I enjoyed the types of shots I could do for the magazine. Back then (early 2000s), we had a lot of magazines – medical, philanthropy, all of the units had their own magazine. This gave me an opportunity to do more interesting assignments and meet more interesting people,” Fougerousse said.

He’s been behind the lens for magazine photos and everything in between since. He has been front-and-center for some of UofL’s most memorable events throughout the past two decades, such as when the first self-contained artificial heart patient in the world went home in 2001, or when dignitaries like George W. Bush. Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, Joe Biden, Sandra Day O’Connor and Mikhail Gorbachev visited campus.

He captured Lamar Jackson’s dynamic Heisman season and maneuvered through caves to illustrate UofL’s blind cavefish research. His favorite subjects to shoot, in fact, are those off-campus research projects. He also likes the annual International Fashion Show and raiseRED events, as well as any School of Music event.

“I like getting entertained while I’m working,” Fougerousse said.

Photography started switching over to digital around 2005. At first, Fougerousse wasn’t a big fan because the quality wasn’t as good. It has since gotten much better and, in fact, there’s not much need for his negatives anymore. So, he recently donated all of them to University Archives, where they will be preserved as part of UofL history for posterity.

“I guess if you think about that, it is kind of cool,” Fougerousse said.

Fougerousse pulled some of his favorite photos from each of his 30 years at UofL and they are available in .

The director of Intramural and Recreational Sports recently announced his retirement and will hang up his whistle on Nov. 1. He takes with him a treasure chest of memories, most of which he still remembers with vivid detail, and leaves behind a legacy rarely duplicated by today’s job-hop-happy workforce.

The beginnings of that legacy could be considered a bit serendipitous. Ramsay grew up in a small town in New Hampshire over 900 miles away, and attended Keene State College, which had about 2,000 students at the time. He received his physical education degree and thought he was going to teach PE and coach basketball for a living after graduation.

“Then my senior year, one of my professors called me and said there was an opportunity in Louisville working in the intramural department. I didn’t really know what intramurals was because we didn’t have much at Keene,” he said.

He interviewed over the phone anyway with Dr. Ellis Mendelsohn, who had been UofL’s intramurals director for 41 years, and then agreed to visit campus.

“I came for an interview during Derby week and, as a 22-year-old, I’m like ‘sign me up,’” he joked.

Upon his arrival at UofL, Ramsay became a graduate assistant for two years, then received his graduate degree and became assistant director of intramural sports. The next year, Harold Adams, whom Ramsay calls the “patriarch of student affairs,” made him director. He was 26.

“Mendy [Mendelsohn] was sick and [Adams] knew I’d take care of Mendy,” he said.

Ramsay also earned a faculty appointment, which he held for 34 years teaching sports administration and sports officiating. Over time, he took on additional duties, like managing spirit groups – cheerleaders, mascots and Lady Birds – and student activities. At some point within the past 41 years, he also took on the facilitation of UofL’s free speech policy.

“UofL Had no policy and we had [author/activist] Sister Souljah speak on campus. The local head of the KKK took offense to her speaking and thought he should also be able to speak. They came to me to enforce a free speech policy because they knew I’d make sure people would follow the rules. Also, with my refereeing experience, conflict management was in my wheelhouse,” Ramsay said. “I definitely learned a lot. My point of pride is that we’ve never been sued. We’ve been threatened to be sued a lot, but we’ve never been sued.”

All of these roles have embedded some interesting stories in his memory – about the day Brother Jeb and Brother Rick and “what seemed like a spaceship full of street preachers” descended on campus. Stories about students starting a dumpster fire at 3 a.m. while camping out for football tickets. Stories about a beer keg falling out of the back of a truck while heading to work at the Ball of the Belle. [Ramsay and his fellow Cardinals were able to recover the keg].

He has also created deep relationships throughout his time here. He calls George Howe, who retired last year after 50 years on campus, his best friend, for example.

“I met my wife because of George,” Ramsay said.

Howe also used to be Ramsay’s boss until Ramsay was named director and then became Howe’s boss.

“I learned humility from George. He told me – I’ll always remember this – if you’re in a place long enough, one of your students is probably going to come back and be your boss,” Ramsay said.

As it so happens, Ramsay met Michael Mardis, now dean of Students and VP of Student Affairs, when he was just 17. At the time, Mardis worked for Ramsay as an intramural coordinator. Ramsay now works for Mardis.

In total, Ramsay has worked for six presidents at UofL, six vice presidents and 11 associate vice presidents. But he doesn’t just remember stories about his bosses or his experiences. He’s had hundreds of students work for him, including 14 employees whose parents also worked for him, and he especially remembers those stories.

“I had one kid who worked in a factory and wanted to be a teacher and he just needed someone to give him a break. I believe education is the great equalizer, so I hired him. Now he’s a principal,” Ramsay said. “I had a law student who graduated near the top of his class. He was at UofL for seven years and he wanted to win a t-shirt from intramurals, but he was athletically challenged. That kid had everything going for him and is now an FBI agent, but I’ll never forget how excited he was when he finally got his t-shirt. That’s what all of this is about for me – those connections. The student connections are what has kept me here so long.”

UofL gave Dr. Mendelsohn a chair to mark his four decades of service and Ramsay still has “Mendy’s” chair in his office to remember the lessons he learned from his former mentor. He plans on keeping it there for whomever moves into his office next – a striking reminder of the legacies built by both of them.

In the meantime, he doesn’t plan on being a stranger to UofL and just may visit every now and then. First, however, he plans to enjoy his retirement after recently overcoming a battle with colon cancer. He’s been cancer-free now for 18 months.

“Everybody has a last day. I’m lucky enough to pick mine,” Ramsay said. “And I’ve got a great story to tell.”

The university’s visitor information manager has been interviewing first-year students for 20 out of her 30 years as a UofL employee, identifying a dozen or so each year who would be best suited to be the face of our campus – leading tours for prospectives and their families, providing information for visitors, guiding donors and dignitaries and more.

Her formula is simple: They have to be able to carry on a conversation with her and their peers.

“I can usually tell right away whenever I start a conversation with them during their interview. If they can talk to me about everything – sports, hobbies, lipstick color, whatever – I know they’re going to be able to talk to parents and maybe set them at ease about sending their kids here,” Lawson said.

Lawson started her UofL adventure in 1991 at the School of Nursing. Not long after, her job was cut so she stayed at home with her children. When her marriage didn’t work out, she returned to campus, working for temporary services, then development, then environmental health and safety. All of those roles were part time.

She eventually found a permanent position at planning and construction, working for Ken Dietz and alongside others she calls “the best people I’ve ever met.”

“I was so proud to be a UofL employee and now I was full-time. I had three small children, the insurance and benefits were amazing. Plus I had already met so many people I just loved at UofL and they felt like they were my family,” Lawson said.

Still, she missed working directly with students. In 2001, an opportunity came up to be the assistant manager, tour coordinator through the Office of Communications and Marketing and she took it.

Little did she know that UofL family of hers was about to become much, much bigger.

“I knew I had to get this job and work with students again. I just had to,” Lawson said. “I had to interview with a student panel and I was a nervous wreck. They were my first group of Ambassadors. I still talk to them.”

In fact, she can recite what they all do professionally, where they live, whether they have gotten married or have had kids, and so forth. And she can do this about her first group of ambassadors from 2001, to her most recent graduates. She’s been to their weddings – “15 or so” – and has met nearly all of their children.

“One of my students adopted my son’s dog. My husband works on their cars,” she said. “If you check my Facebook account, nearly all of my friends are former students of mine.”

She boasts about some of her former ambassadors who are returning to campus as part of their professional journey. Former Central High School Principal Raymond Green, for example, was recently hired as the executive director of undergraduate programs for the College of Business. He is one of Lawson’s former ambassadors.

Nick Peak, also one of her former students, was recently brought on as a policy and budget analyst at UofL. Dillon Miles, director of development, is also a former ambassador. So is Nakia Strickland, associate director of alumni relations.Ìę

They don’t all boomerang back to campus, however. Lawson’s students have gone on to become lawyers, doctors, dentists, entrepreneurs, sports broadcasters – name it and chances are she’ll beam with pride at their very mention.

“I had the first female athlete Fulbright student, Liz Halet. She was a swimmer. She is an attorney now. She was pretty quiet but once she started working here, she opened up and fit right in. All of my students are successful and special, but I don’t care what they do for a living, I’m just so proud of all of them,” Lawson said.

Lawson also admits the students have changed her. Despite their pleas, she used to not attend their graduations because it was “too hard to say goodbye.” She eventually changed her tune after her own children graduated, and has since attended all of her ambassadors’ commencement ceremonies.

“When they walk across the stage, I always get emotional. It all started to make sense to me. I had them for all those years and watched them study and struggle and now I was watching everything they had worked for and it made it all better,” Lawson said. “I realized it wasn’t a goodbye, but rather a part of their life they had completed. Since I keep in touch with all of them, I know now that is true.”

Even after 30 years on campus, Lawson isn’t yet considering retirement. She jokes to her students that they’re stuck with her, but in fact it’s because of the students that she wants to stick around.Ìę

“I’d say I love the university but it’s the people that make the university what it is. I love the job but I love the people who work with me,” Lawson said. “I love the students. They’re my babies.”

Also, the 2021 winner of the Outstanding Supervisor Award, selected by a committee of peers, is Danielle Dolan, assistant dean and director in the A&S Advising Center.Ìę

From Dolan’s nomination:Ìę“Danielle is the kind of leader that you want to work with for your entire career. She is kind, friendly, motivating, and genuinely cares about all aspects of your being. She has always encouraged a healthy work/life balance, with constant reminders to take care of ourselves. She consistently reminds us to make sure our mental health is a priority. After all, we cannot tell our students to do these things if we are not doing them ourselves!ÌęDanielle is the absolute embodiment of the Cardinal Principles. She has always worked diligently to create a community of care that is both accountable and respectful, both for our office and in working with our students. She creates an environment that allows everyone to be who they are and allows all voices to be heard and acknowledged. She has become a true leader by being transparent, honest and open with her staff and flexible in both processes and operations.”

The Outstanding Performance Award Winners are listed below.Ìę

Jody Carroll, coordinator, vice president of Research – Technology Dev.

From the nomination:Ìę“Jody maintains great relationships with outside Intellectual Property law firms, is a leader when it comes to teaching others about financial responsibilities and goes beyond her role as financial coordinator by being a role model. She is very approachable, and kind and her positive attitude is contagious. Jody is a natural leader in our office. She always steps up to help new team members learn their role. No matter what else she has going on in her work, she continuously takes the initiative to help others and to drive our team to do the best we can in every situation. She is always willing to take on extra tasks that will make us a better team.”

Beverly Cooper, program assistant senior, International Affairs

From the nomination:Ìę“Beverly has been a dedicated employee at the university for almost 40 years. She is a consummate professional. She puts the International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) team first, strives to get all involved, and has a student-centered mentality. In short, she has put her love in her job, her fellow staff members, and her university and community. Beverly has always been timely, resilient, and a self-starter. She asks the questions needed to fill in the blanks of any issues or concerns she sees in the office. She is dedicated to her customer service and making every international student feel welcome when they enter the university. She makes the university feel like family and like home for our students. For all the work that she commits to the office, dependability, hard-work, team-player, independent worker, bringing the office together to solve admissions concerns, and for being a genuinely wonderful person. She is not in this for herself. She is in it for the greater good and that is a lost trait.”

Carrie Faller, director of Workforce and Student Development, Metropolitan CollegeÌę

From the nomination:Ìę“Carrie is a servant leader who consistently goes above and beyond her stated job description to ensure that the entire Metropolitan College community feels supported, valued and served on a daily basis. Carrie has worked for the University of Louisville for 13 years and I would be remiss if I let one more year go by without seeking an opportunity to recognize her work publicly. I believe Carrie is a phenomenal employee and an excellent example of how Cardinal Principles are put into action every day. Carrie excels in her work ethic, dependability, initiative, time management, organization and project management.”

Marcus Hayes, carpenter, Physical Plant

From the nomination:Ìę“Marcus demonstrates a high degree of effort, and always has a positive attitude toward his work assignments. [He] has never turned down work, and always gives 110% effort toward his daily assignments. We continue to hear feedback from students, staff and faculty that Marcus Hayes was helpful, respectful and friendly toward Physical Plant’s customers.”Ìę

Carol Hines, unit business manager intermediate, Pediatrics – Infectious DiseaseÌę

From the nomination:Ìę“Carol has been a central figure in the success of the units that she has served and has been a central, exemplary and foundational member of the administrative structure of the Department of Pediatrics. Carol is always poised, calm, collected and kind. She is a role model for other staff in the division, unit, and the department. Her answer is always, ‘Yes… and is there anything else I can do?’ There have been some rough times in the past 20 years—personnel problems, long leaves of absence, transitions in leadership, financial constraints. But Carol’s steady, calm, competent approach has been a comfort to all of us at these times. Carol’s love for her work shows—her pride and sense of accomplishment is infectious.”

Justin Peterson, associate director of Intramural and Recreational SportsÌę

From the nomination:Ìę“Justin does everything with integrity and is committed to UofL students. He has helped to create a culture in the Student Recreation Center where customer service is a priority. He has excellent judgement and can be always be counted on the make the right decision. He always represents Intramural Recreational Sports and the university in a positive and professional manner. His work ethic is unmatched. He is a highly valued member of the Intramural Recreational Sports team, all of whom have the utmost respect for Justin.”

Eunice Salazar, unit business manager intermediate, Speed School – Conn Center

From the nomination:Ìę“Her consistently positive attitude and ‘take on anything’ mentality have characterized Ms. Salazar’s outstanding service to the university since her hire in 2013, and especially in her expanded capability as UBM since 2016. Eunice responds decisively and carefully to [her] barrage of daily administrative tasks and activities with the Cardinal Principles as her guide, consistently enabling the center staff, researchers, students, associated faculty, and industry collaborators as they navigate university, state and federal accounting and operations regulations. She maintains the center’s business dealings with a clear ethical compass and ensures training and adherence to best practices in accountancy.”

Joshua Spurgeon, research scientist, Speed School of EngineeringÌę

From the nomination:Ìę“[Josh] has worked exceptionally hard to land a few significant grants for the Conn Center, including a prestigious NSF CAREER award, while also displaying strong service through community outreach activities that broaden the impact of the Conn Center’s activities. He has been dedicated to his students and tries his best to always be involved and accessible while mentoring graduate students. He has published 26 articles in five years in the Conn Center, including 4 articles with exceptionally high impact factors of 30+, and many highly cited works. He also has been granted one patent on solar-driven hydrogen generation from humidity in the air, and he has two other patents pending through UofL. He perseveres through tough challenges and research problems, and always takes the time to try to make sure that students are learning along the way. He also cares about his students as people and tries to build group unity beyond work activities.”

The vice provost with a can-do attitude has worked in many forms of UofL academic affairs and services throughout the 35-year tenure that ended with her June 30 retirement. In recent years, Rhodes had the additional title of executive director of the Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning.

“People knew if you gave me something, it got done – and I enjoy that reputation,” Rhodes said.

“She has grown a small Delphi Center program into a juggernaut that offers expertise including instructional design, pedagogy/college teaching, higher education administration, IT, disability services, program and administrative support, conference and events services and sales, enrollment counseling, marketing and finance,” Provost Lori Stewart Gonzalez said. “The most recent addition to the Delphi Center is Military and Online Initiatives, an area that was created to lead institutional efforts to support on-campus and online military-connected students.”

Rhodes is quick to credit her staff members, who number close to 60 and who share her viewpoint that “at the end of the day, we need to do excellent work,” she said. She is proud of what they’ve accomplished together.

“The beauty of my unit is we are a service unit, and my staff thoroughly understands that,” she said.

When Rhodes arrived at UofL, she established and coordinated the freshman orientation course and soon served as director of academic services, earning her UofL doctorate along the way in counseling and college student personnel in 1994. She also had responsibility for UofL’s Quality Enhancement Plan meant to enhance critical thinking skills to address real-world problems.

Over the years Rhodes assumed more and more responsibilities and assignments in the evolving areas of professional, distance and continuing education and, ultimately, the burgeoning field of online education.

And, although the processes were well in place beforehand, at no time was the importance of online education more important or visible than when UofL needed to shift to remote learning mid-spring semester 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I knew our staff and I knew we were structured in such a way we could turn on a dime,” Rhodes said. Her message to her team was simple: “We’ve got to bring our faculty online for our students.”

“This is our opportunity,” Rhodes recalled saying to a team leader. “This training has to be outstanding.”

Rhodes said the unit also assessed along the way to ensure it was meeting faculty needs and ultimately the learning outcomes for students.

“I think we rose to the occasion,” she said. “People saw the value of what we have to offer them.”

The Delphi Center also has concentrated on working with faculty within their colleges or academic departments for better coordination of ways to deliver their subjects as peers. “You make a difference with people one at a time,” she said.

Most gratifying for her has been the reaction of some professors who’ve relied on the Delphi Center expertise in refining their approach to reaching their students, not only during the pandemic shift.

“The number of people who’ve said they’ve changed the way they teach
.,” Rhodes said. “Working with my staff has made them better teachers. That’s been wonderful.”

She praised the “faculty who are willing to grow and learn,” adding that most people are most comfortable with teaching the way they were taught.

“I am grateful to those who are open to learning new ways to deliver education,” she said.

Delivering online education now can even mean offering entire graduate programs that way. Rhodes credits deans and other administrators who show leadership and understanding of what it takes to market to adult students who might have some college credits but lack a full degree or who need more education through an advanced degree. Those adults often are juggling families, full-time jobs and locations outside Louisville with their need for coursework – and for them, online is the way to a brighter future and more opportunity.

Rhodes cited the online master of business administration degree and the university’s new, first fully online doctorate in social work as examples of ways UofL is trying to reach different populations and bring them to the university through online curriculum in a stiffly competitive market.

Rhodes leaves the university proud of what she has accomplished with her staff and hopeful about the future.

“I think the university is really poised to move forward, and for me that’s really exciting,” she said.

In the 50-plus years since he first stepped foot on campus as a freshman, Fitzpatrick has served in positions with the Athletics Department, Enrollment, Minority Affairs and as an assistant to the president. He eventually “meandered” over to the office of Community Engagement and will retire in May in that capacity.

Perhaps with a little bit of serendipity, Fitzpatrick took a major gamble to get his UofL career up and running. After working with Athletics for about a year, a job came up as a board-appointed administrator. It was only guaranteed for 30 days.

“Our Upward Bound program was in disarray,” Fitpatrick said. It was his job to fix it within those 30 days.

Not only did he fix it, the program recently helped students attain more than .

“I took a chance and accepted the job and Upward Bound is still at the University of Louisville today,” he said.

Since overseeing the Community Engagement department, UofL has collaborated with community partners for the Signature Partnership initiative, provided services in underserved neighborhoods and helped build stronger communities internationally.ÌęIn , the university reported 1,358 partnership and outreach activities in collaboration with community partners and over 520,000 hours of student community service.

In retrospect, Fitzpatrick’s dedication to the University of Louisville and its programs should be of no surprise. As he took a chance on the institution by accepting a temporary job that evolved into a lifelong career, UofL also took a chance on him.

The first-generation college student was dismissed from his high school during his senior year for “failure to adhere to school regulations and dress codes.” It was the late 1960s and racial tensions were high following the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

“You would laugh. I had a light mustache. But the reality of it was that was the excuse for the district citing me for civil disobedience. There was no due process. I was just told to leave,” Fitpatrick said.

His case caught the attention of both the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights and the ACLU. Together, they sued the school district and the case went all the way to federal court. The court didn’t want to set a precedent on this case, according to Fitzpatrick, so his case was ruled against. That’s not to say all was lost, however.

The case also caught the attention of an adjunct law faculty member at UofL, who worked out an agreement that he could take one course in public speaking to make up for his one missing high school credit. He enrolled as a freshman in 1970. Ìę

“UofL took a mighty chance on Ralph Fitzpatrick,” he said. “The long story short is that was the start of my academic career and what got me to the University of Louisville.”

At that time, he was inspired by the active environment on campus, led by the late Blaine Hudson and the first wave of African American students post-desegregation.

“I was blessed to be one of those students. We had probably one of the best support systems of all time. UofL created the Office of Black Affairs. There were about 10,000 students at the time and 200 African American students. They understood the need – we had that level of support and we had each other,” Fitzpatrick said.

He reminisces about his early days at UofL with fondness and it’s clear his affinity for UofL was solidified immediately.

Now, he reflects on that time as it relates to UofL’s current work in becoming the premier metropolitan research university, as well as the premier anti-racist metropolitan research university.

“That word ‘metropolitan’ means more than just being located in Louisville. Our university has a footprint in everything that moves in this city and even in the state,” he said. “You can’t talk about education without the University of Louisville. You can’t talk about health without the University of Louisville. You can’t talk about economic empowerment 
”

It’s worth noting that now such reflection comes a bit intuitively as he prepares for retirement after a lifelong career here. He is optimistic about the path UofL is on, which is further along than it was when he came on board. He is especially optimistic that the university still has that support system in place for first-generation African American students and faculty.

“Those levels of support are our greatest window of opportunity,” he said. “We’ve got to walk the walk because so many are dependent on us. As long as folks of goodwill can come to the table and work together as a family, we can make those things happen.”

Check out the full conversation between Ralph Fitzpatrick and UofL President Neeli Bendapudi below.Ìę

For the 2020 AVCA Diversity Award program, recipients will participate in a series of educational, developmental and relationship building experiences in conjunction with the 2020 AVCA Virtual Convention, December 16-19 (With all 2020 AVCA Diversity Award winners being invited to in-person programming at the 2021 AVCA Convention in Columbus, Ohio).

Recipients will also be integrated into the AVCA Diversity Award winner alumni program that consists of continuing education, relationship building and mentoring upon completion of the initial programming. The award will provide more Black and more ethnic minority coaches the chance to strengthen their professional networks and help prepare the next generation of coaches to pursue their future dreams.Ìę

Morgan, a 6-0 middle blocker, spent her collegiate career at Minnesota. As a senior, she was named Second Team All-Big Ten and was an All-Region Honorable Mention.ÌęShe played high school volleyball at Blaine (Minnesota) and was ranked as the 89th recruit in the national recruiting class.

She graduated from Minnesota with a bachelor’s in youth studies. Her dad, Matt Bingle, is the University of Minnesota’s director of women’s track & field and cross country.

She also happens to be Mrs. Kentucky 2017 and will compete in the Mrs. America Pageant in Las Vegas in August.Ìę

UofL News had a chance to talk to Thompson about how she manages her busy schedule and how her involvement in pageants allows her toÌęprovide guidance and resources to middle and high school students to help them understand the importance of taking education seriously at an early age.

UofL News: What brought you to UofL?Ìę

Tyiana Thompson: I wanted to work here because I wanted to work for an intellectually prominent university that is dedicated to delivering quality educational opportunities to its students. ÌęÌę

UofL News: What is your favorite thing about UofL? About your job, specifically?

Tyiana Thompson:ÌęMy favorite thing about UofL is how it continues to be a pillar within the Louisville community and the state of Kentucky. No matter what we are faced with, UofL stays committed to the true meaning of education and all that it entails.

My favorite thing about my job is having the ability to facilitate positive change within people and the institution. Every day I support individuals reach their goals to improve themselves and their family. I help people reach goals they thought they never could. Additionally, I strategically create and implement processes to make that journey easier for the student. Ìę

UofL News: How has your job/higher education in genaral changed since you came on board?

Tyiana Thompson:ÌęI have been in post-secondary education for 11 years. I started out in the private for-profit sector which is vastly different from public education from a business approach standpoint, but similar in objectives Ìę– delivering educational opportunities to those who pursue it. My job has changed quite a bit since I came on board and that is because education in general has changed. Institutions are paying more attention to enrollment trends and recognizing that we cannot delay our response to the market. Honestly, the stymied mentality of public institutions has really put many universities in a tough spot. Now, we see the rise of public institutions investing more in non-traditional ways of delivering education.

I work in online learning, and that is something that many universities view as less desirable in terms of growth investments. Data shows that online deliverables have very little negative impact on traditional programs. In fact, investing in online strategically enhances the university and the bottom line. Accessibility is something that is really important, there is a large market for individuals who want to pursue starting and/or furthering their education but can’t come to class 3 to 4 days a week. That is a major trend in education right now, giving the student what they want, how they want it.Ìę

UofL News: How long have you been involved in pageants? What made you get involved?Ìę

Tyiana Thompson:ÌęThe Mrs. Kentucky pageant was the first pageant I have ever done. So, the Mrs. America pageant will only be the second pageant I have ever done. I’m nervous to say the least.Ìę

Every year I look for ways to develop myself and get more involved in community initiatives. Last year as I was researching different avenues, I came across the Mrs. Kentucky pageant. What drew me to participating was the fact that it is a married woman pageant that highlights women who have families, successful careers and are involved within their community. That is the talent portion of this pageant!

It also had awards in areas such as community involvement and career accomplishments. I actually won 5 of the 10 sub category awards, career achievement, best interview, contestant choice, photogenic and most ticket sales. I’m most proud of winning career achievement because my career is very important to me. It was nice to be recognized. Ìę

UofL News: What are some of your fondest memories of being named Mrs. Kentucky?

Tyiana Thompson:ÌęOne of my fondest memories was when all of the women were on stage in their beautiful gowns right before they announced the winner. You could see the sense of accomplishment on everyone’s faces and the family support in the audience cheering us on; it was a surreal moment. For me, it was topped off with winning the contestants’ choice award. That award meant that I made a positive impact on the amazing women I grew to know throughout that crazy, amazing experience.

UofL News: What do you want to accomplish next?

I want to win Mrs. America! I would love to have a national platform to provide guidance and resources to middle and high school students to help them understand the importance of taking education seriously at an early age – specifically, minority and disenfranchised populations.

UofL News: What do you do in your free time?Ìę

Tyiana Thompson:ÌęI don’t have a lot of free time right now. My involvement within the community has quadrupled. I spend most evenings and weekends attending charity events or speaking with youth groups. My husband and I squeeze in some travel when we can.

Photo credit: Andrew Kung