Women Leaders in College Sports Announces 2019 Commitment and Rising Star Award Winners

April 16, 2019

Contacts:
Chanel Barnes
Women Leaders in College Sports
chanel@womenleadersincollegesports.org
816-389-8208

Kansas City, Mo.—Women Leaders in College Sports, the nation’s premier women’s athletic leadership association that develops, connects, and advances women working in intercollegiate athletics, announced today its Rising Star and Commitment Award recipients.

Dr. Tiese Roxbury (Assistant Director of Research, Assessment, and Academic Success and Educational Research Scientist, NCAA) was named the Commitment Award Winner. Ashley Beaton (Athletic Administration Graduate Assistant, University of North Georgia) and Christal Peterson (Coordinator for Student-Athlete Success, Inclusion, and Leadership, Wheaton College) were named Rising Star Award Winners.

"We are thrilled to celebrate these three outstanding women leaders,” says Patti Phillips, CEO of Women Leaders in College Sports. “I am inspired by their dedication and commitment to college athletics, and I am excited to see what the future holds for these emerging industry leaders!”

The Rising Star Award recognizes administrators who have made a significant contribution early in their career and show potential to make a leadership impact in the future. These Women Leaders members demonstrate high-level leadership roles on campus, in a conference office, an organization, or in the community.

The Commitment Award recognizes a mid-level athletics administrator below the senior ranking level (5-10 years of administrative experience) who is committed to providing leadership and guidance within intercollegiate athletics, goes beyond the call of duty, and provides outstanding service to one's department, conference office, or organization.

Congratulations to all three recipients! Award recipients will also receive scholarships to attend the 2019 Women Leaders National Convention, October 13-15 in Phoenix, AZ. The National Convention is the premier conference for women working in intercollegiate athletics, offering unparalleled leadership and professional development, industry training, and networking opportunities.

Award nominations are open through May 3, 2019 for the Jostens and Nell Jackson Administrator of the Year Awards (across all divisions). Women Leaders members may submit their nominations here.

About the Honorees

Dr. Tiese Roxbury is the Assistant Director of Research, Assessment, and Academic Success and Educational Research Scientist for the NCAA. She is involved in an array of projects related to academics, institutional research, survey development, with a major part of her work focusing on the educational aspect of the student-athlete experience.  Working closely with the Accelerating Academic Success Program (AASP), she concentrates on measuring the impact of the program and helping improve the student-athlete experience and academic performance at NCAA member institutions through research, educational programming, and the development of best practices.  She also serves as a liaison to the Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct. 

A former student-athlete and Gates Millennium Scholar, Tiese earned her undergraduate degree in Mathematics at Salem College while competing in volleyball and basketball.  She earned a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro in Educational Research and Assessment.

Christal Peterson was named the Coordinator for Student-Athlete Success, Inclusion, and Leadership on July 26, 2018. Peterson spent the previous two years as the Graduate Assistant for Student-Athlete Welfare and Development at the University of Central Florida. 

Peterson, who was a four-year member of the Knights track & field program, received her Bachelors of Science in Health Science at UCF, before completing her Masters of Sports Business Administration and Business Administration. 

During her time in the UCF Student-Athlete Welfare and Development office, Peterson helped execute various initiatives and events design to empower and develop UCF student-athletes outside their respective fields. Peterson played a part in the Summer Knight Program that helped freshmen and transfer student-athletes transition to college. She also assisted student-athletes with career opportunities by partnering with several campus departments and companies across the Orlando community, including Brown and Brown.

For Wheaton, Peterson will help to develop and implement a four-year comprehensive leadership program around the four key components of the Lyons "AllWheAre" campaign; Character, Performance, Involvement, and Self-Care. Through the "AllWheAre" campaign, Peterson will create, plan and implement diversity and inclusion, leadership and academic success programs for student-athletes. This will further develop character, personal and leadership development while preparing Wheaton student-athletes in their development to become global citizens. 

Ashley Beaton, a St. Louis, Missouri native, was a Division II volleyball student-athlete at University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS), in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). She was a GLVC Academic All-Conference Honoree as well as a team captain. Beaton earned her B.A. in Developmental Psychology, from UIS.
 
Ashley served on UIS’s institutional SAAC for three years and was the Secretary, Vice President and President. She also served as the GLVC National SAAC Rep from 2015 to 2018 where she was a member of the Division II National SAAC Executive Board and the female SAAC Representative on Division II Management Council. While serving on Division II National SAAC, Ashley was also a committee member on the Board of Governors Commission to Combat Sexual Violence.  In her last semester at UIS, Ashley was an Athletics Administration Intern assisting with fundraising, external operations and game operations.
 
After graduating from UIS, Beaton attended University of North Georgia to pursue her Master’s in Business Administration as a Graduate Assistant for Athletic Administration. While at UNG, Ashley has worked with events, game day operations, compliance, budgeting and finance, development and student-athlete academics and life skills. She helped start UNG’s first ever student-athlete mentor program, Hawk Em 101. One of her favorite parts was being able to impact the community with SAAC and their dedication to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
 
Starting June 17th, Ashley will move to Indianapolis to as a part of the 2019-20 NCAA Post-graduate Intern Cohort working with Division II Governance.

About Women Leaders in College Sports

Founded in 1979, Women Leaders in College Sports (womenleadersincollgesports.org) is the only nationally recognized collegiate professional membership organization whose mission is to develop, connect, and advance women leaders working in intercollegiate athletics. More than 3,500 members strong, Women Leaders promotes the growth, leadership, and success of women as athletics administrators, conference commissioners, professional staff, coaches, and student-athletes. Follow Women Leaders on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @WomenLeadersCS.