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NORMAL – Illinois State Interim Director of Athletics Dr. Jeri Beggs has added another key professional to her administrative team, as she has announced the hiring of Amari Dryden as the department’s new Assistant Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging and Student-Athlete Development. Dryden comes to Illinois State after previously working in the athletic departments at Vanderbilt and Ohio State.
In her new role at Illinois State, Dryden will serve as a leader in developing a diverse and inclusive environment in the Athletics Department and will be responsible for the development and oversight of all Athletic Department’s DEI&B initiatives and programming as well as Student-Athlete Development. She will be charged with cultivating relationships with many campus organizations and leaders such as those in ISU Career Services, Student Counseling Services, International Students and Scholar Services, ISU’s Multicultural Center, and the Dean of Students among others. Dryden will serve on the Athletic Director’s Senior Staff, Illinois State University’s Athletics Council and will represent Illinois State Athletics on campus and as part of Missouri Valley Conference committees.
“We are excited to bring Amari to Illinois State University in this important position within our department,” ISU Interim Director of Athletics Dr. Jeri Beggs said. “Amari’s passion and enthusiasm for supporting student-athletes in both of these areas, as well as her educational focus, set her apart during our search.”
Dryden’s DEI&B responsibilities will include implementing training and workshops for student-athletes, coaches, and staff and she will monitor and update the department’s most recent NCAA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Review. She will also oversee the Student-Athlete “Redbirds4Change” committee and will be the department’s NCAA Athletics Diversity and Inclusion designee (ADID).
In the Student-Athlete Development portion of her position, Dryden will be responsible for the overarching goal to provide each student-athlete with the skills necessary to achieve success in their personal and professional lives beyond their collegiate athletic experiences. She will work on creating, planning, and implementing effective leadership, life skills, professional/career and personal development workshops, events, and initiatives for all student-athletes. This will include working with both internal and external campus partners to promote the holistic development of ISU’s student-athlete population. Dryden will also contribute to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), collaborate with the staff in the Karin Bone Athletics Study Center, partner with campus and department mental health professionals and others to enhance the student-athlete experience and their overall welfare.
“I want to thank Dr. Jeri Beggs, Cindy Harris, Joe Klausner, and the rest of the Illinois State Athletic Department for welcoming me to the Redbird family,” Dryden said. “I can’t wait to move to Normal, connect with everyone in Athletics, and continue building campus partnerships to enhance the student-athlete and staff experience.”
Dryden comes to Illinois State after serving as the Director of Career Development at the Ingram Center for Student-Athlete Success at Vanderbilt University since January of 2022. In that role, she helped coordinate a student-athlete summer internship program in Vanderbilt’s corporate hub cities, she assisted in the development and implementation of an annual 10-week workshop curriculum for all student-athletes completing summer internships by offering presentations on professional development, career exploration, and leadership skills and she offered team-specific workshops based on coaching staff requests and student-athlete-body-wide workshops on topics such as how to leverage your student-athlete experience in the workplace, use Linkedln to network with alumni, and apply to graduate or professional school.
While at Vanderbilt, Dryden also co-advised the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) career committee, a sub-committee of eight SAAC reps who served as a working group to suggest and promote career development workshops, events, and initiatives to the rest of the student-athlete body. She also designed and coordinated a four-day career tour in Los Angeles featuring panels and site visits with two Vanderbilt alumni and six entrepreneurs in conjunction with taking 11 student-athletes and seven staff to the Black Student-Athlete Summit hosted by the University of Southern California in May of 2023.
Dryden also served as an advisor to the Black Student-Athlete Group (BSAG) executive board to assist them in ideating meeting topics and events to implement the organization’s mission to provide an environment of inclusion and belonging for Black
student-athletes at Vanderbilt, a predominantly white institution.
Prior to her work at Vanderbilt, Dryden worked in the Student-Athlete Support Services Office (SASSO) at Ohio State University as a Student-Athlete Engagement Graduate Intern. In that role, she informed student-athletes interested in graduate or professional school of the application process and reviewed resumes and personal statements for applications to prepare and support student-athletes in their transition to life after sport. She also co-presented on conflict resolution, diversity & inclusion, intersectionality, and the student-athlete experience during semester Bridge programs for incoming first year and transfer student-athletes.
She began her time at Ohio State as a Graduate Administrative Assistant and Career Counselor in Buckeye Careers. While there, she counseled over ten clients a week in individual, one-hour-long coaching sessions as they made career decisions such as picking a college major or planning for graduate or professional school to better prepare students for the future. She also critiqued career materials like resumes and cover letters, and conducted mock interviews to prepare students for the job search process and encouraged and guided diverse students ranging from first-year students to post-docs in short and long-term career strategy action plan development to determine their career vision and assess their career goals so they can fulfill their purpose and reach their fullest potential.
As graduate assistant at Ohio State, Dryden also spent time working in the Multicultural Center as a Native American/Indigenous Intercultural Initiatives Practicum student. In that role, Dryden co-advised the Native OSU Cohort student organization, an affinity group for Native American & Indigenous students at OSU, by assisting organization leaders in planning cohort meetings. She also developed and co-led a workshop with OSU’s Native American/Indigenous Intercultural Specialist entitled “Harmful Representations of Indigenous People as Mascots” to spread awareness about Native mascots’ negative impact on the Native American community.
Dryden earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Ohio State University in 2018 before later earning a Master of Higher Education & Student Affairs degree from Ohio State in 2022. She wrote a Master’s thesis about the college choice, academic, and athletic experiences of Native American student-athletes.
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Publish date : 2024-07-31 21:35:42
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