Three Bulls Selected to Attend Institute for Administrative Advancement
May 15, 2019 | General, Student-Athlete Enhancement
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, MAY 15, 2019 โ Three important USF Athletics staff members have earned a prime opportunity to further strengthen their work skills and bring professional goals into full focus.
Director of Compliance Dawn Castro, Director of Selmon Mentoring Institute and Student-Athlete Enhancement Kristen Harris and Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Enhancement Tayler Onion have each been selected to attend the 2019 NCAA/Women Leaders in College Sports Institute for Administrative Advancement (IAA).
Harris and Onion will be headed to the Denver area for the IAA West sessions set for May 29-June 1. Castro will participate in the IAA East event June 17-20 in the Washington, D.C. area. Each applicant for the premier "level one" leadership development program had to fulfill a number of requirements, including having at least three years of full-time intercollegiate athletics administration experience.
"It's really good for us," said Marquita Armstead, USF's Senior Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator. "I don't know of a lot of institutions that get three people in one year. They have a committee that reads all the applications and picks. I'm really proud of them for doing it, but also that they made it because it's selective."
Improving skills specific to athletic administration (fundraising, sports supervision, crisis management) is an IAA program goal along with developing strategies to determine a path toward career advancement. Participants also get to build their network and find the best version of their professional and personal selves through self-exploration.
"I think the biggest advantage is that Women Leaders spends a lot of time on college athletic administrators as a whole. They don't just concentrate on how you can advance in your particular department, or another department, if you want to be an athletic director or anything like that," Armstead said. "They'll spend some time doing some team-building exercises. They'll do tell you how to take care of your physical and mental well-being."
Armstead graduated from the Institute for Administrative Advancement in 2015 and said the program is really effective in making participants well-rounded as people.
"It gives you an opportunity to do some self-assessment - where you are and where you want to be and how to get there," Armstead said. "It gives you a mini roadmap of how you can get promoted, or do something different in athletics, or even if this is still the right business for you. Additionally, what it helped me do is really do some self-assessment while putting out a five-year plan for myself. It wasn't that much longer after that, I was here."
Armstead is confident Castro, Harris and Onion will get the most out of the IAA experience and said all three are very valuable members of USF Athletics.
"I think the thing they all have in common is they all spend a lot of time in their different roles with the student-athletes directly," Armstead said. "That's what we're supposed to be here for. They directly impact our student-athletes every day."
Castro has served as USF Athletics' Director of Compliance since 2014 with a main objective of determining, managing and monitoring student-athlete financial aid and eligibility requirements.ย The Stetson University School of Law graduate serves as the primary USF Athletic Compliance Office contact for student-athlete financial aid, coordinating compliance operations as it relates to housing, meals and student accounts. Castro also assists with the management of the Student Assistance Fund (SAF) while preparing institutional, conference and NCAA reports.ย
In November 2016, Harris began working as the Director of the Selmon Mentoring Institute and Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Enhancement, overseeing career development for student-athletes and teaching a for-credit class and a practicum through the Selmon Mentoring Institute.
Onion has worked at USF Athletics as the Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Enhancement since August 2017. In her role with the Bulls, the former Illinois volleyball student-athlete oversees community engagement, leadership advancement, personal enhancement and special events. Additionally, Onion led the development and launch of USF's inaugural Student-Athlete Leadership Academy, which began during the 2018-2019 academic year.
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"They're all hard workers and they all give their best to USF," Armstead said. "I'm just encouraged that they'll get this experience and exposure."
ย
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls' athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 53rdย season in 2018-19. Nearly 500 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 18 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, and own 119 conference titles overall. Nine USF programs reached national post-season competition in the 2017-18 season and six were ranked in the Top 25 nationally. The Bulls posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for the third straight year in 2017-18 and have posted a program record eight straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0. USF has had more than 250 student-athletes earn their degree in the last three years.
ย
Followย USF Athletics on Twitter (@USFAthletics) andย Facebookย for all the latest information concerning the USF Athletic program.
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, MAY 15, 2019 โ Three important USF Athletics staff members have earned a prime opportunity to further strengthen their work skills and bring professional goals into full focus.
Director of Compliance Dawn Castro, Director of Selmon Mentoring Institute and Student-Athlete Enhancement Kristen Harris and Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Enhancement Tayler Onion have each been selected to attend the 2019 NCAA/Women Leaders in College Sports Institute for Administrative Advancement (IAA).
Harris and Onion will be headed to the Denver area for the IAA West sessions set for May 29-June 1. Castro will participate in the IAA East event June 17-20 in the Washington, D.C. area. Each applicant for the premier "level one" leadership development program had to fulfill a number of requirements, including having at least three years of full-time intercollegiate athletics administration experience.
"It's really good for us," said Marquita Armstead, USF's Senior Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator. "I don't know of a lot of institutions that get three people in one year. They have a committee that reads all the applications and picks. I'm really proud of them for doing it, but also that they made it because it's selective."
Improving skills specific to athletic administration (fundraising, sports supervision, crisis management) is an IAA program goal along with developing strategies to determine a path toward career advancement. Participants also get to build their network and find the best version of their professional and personal selves through self-exploration.
"I think the biggest advantage is that Women Leaders spends a lot of time on college athletic administrators as a whole. They don't just concentrate on how you can advance in your particular department, or another department, if you want to be an athletic director or anything like that," Armstead said. "They'll spend some time doing some team-building exercises. They'll do tell you how to take care of your physical and mental well-being."
Armstead graduated from the Institute for Administrative Advancement in 2015 and said the program is really effective in making participants well-rounded as people.
"It gives you an opportunity to do some self-assessment - where you are and where you want to be and how to get there," Armstead said. "It gives you a mini roadmap of how you can get promoted, or do something different in athletics, or even if this is still the right business for you. Additionally, what it helped me do is really do some self-assessment while putting out a five-year plan for myself. It wasn't that much longer after that, I was here."
Armstead is confident Castro, Harris and Onion will get the most out of the IAA experience and said all three are very valuable members of USF Athletics.
"I think the thing they all have in common is they all spend a lot of time in their different roles with the student-athletes directly," Armstead said. "That's what we're supposed to be here for. They directly impact our student-athletes every day."
Castro has served as USF Athletics' Director of Compliance since 2014 with a main objective of determining, managing and monitoring student-athlete financial aid and eligibility requirements.ย The Stetson University School of Law graduate serves as the primary USF Athletic Compliance Office contact for student-athlete financial aid, coordinating compliance operations as it relates to housing, meals and student accounts. Castro also assists with the management of the Student Assistance Fund (SAF) while preparing institutional, conference and NCAA reports.ย
In November 2016, Harris began working as the Director of the Selmon Mentoring Institute and Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Enhancement, overseeing career development for student-athletes and teaching a for-credit class and a practicum through the Selmon Mentoring Institute.
Onion has worked at USF Athletics as the Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Enhancement since August 2017. In her role with the Bulls, the former Illinois volleyball student-athlete oversees community engagement, leadership advancement, personal enhancement and special events. Additionally, Onion led the development and launch of USF's inaugural Student-Athlete Leadership Academy, which began during the 2018-2019 academic year.
ย
"They're all hard workers and they all give their best to USF," Armstead said. "I'm just encouraged that they'll get this experience and exposure."
ย
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls' athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 53rdย season in 2018-19. Nearly 500 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 18 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, and own 119 conference titles overall. Nine USF programs reached national post-season competition in the 2017-18 season and six were ranked in the Top 25 nationally. The Bulls posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for the third straight year in 2017-18 and have posted a program record eight straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0. USF has had more than 250 student-athletes earn their degree in the last three years.
ย
Followย USF Athletics on Twitter (@USFAthletics) andย Facebookย for all the latest information concerning the USF Athletic program.
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