Nebraska Athletics Hosts Big Ten Community and Impact Representatives

Nebraska’s Executive Associate AD for Strategic Initiatives Dr. Lawrence Chatters and Assistant Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives Mya Felder welcomed Big Ten Conference Office Representatives to Nebraska’s campus on March 19-20. Through the two-day experience, Omar Brown, Senior Vice President for Community and Impact and Eriana Henderson a George and Viola Taliferro Fellow, had the opportunity to tour Nebraska's campus and gain insight on various Inclusive Excellence initiatives at the university.

“We are grateful that Omar and Eriana took the time to visit Nebraska," Dr. Chatters said. "We wanted to give them an in depth look at what we offer as a campus and athletic department. We are hopeful that they walked away with a deeper understanding of what make Nebraska such a special place. We kept them buy and rolled out the red carpet for them.”

After the pair arrived on Tuesday, they met with Dr. Marco Baker, Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Inclusion, and talked about future collaboration between the conference and campus inclusion leaders across the Big Ten.

Later that day, Big Ten representatives had the chance to tour the campus, learning more about the history of the university through various academic and athletic buildings. This included the Gaughan Multicultural Center and the Devaney, Hendricks, and Francis Allen Training Complex where they had the chance to chat with student-athletes about their experiences. They wrapped up the night at Haymarket Park where they had the chance to watch the Nebraska baseball team take on in-state rival Omaha.

On Wednesday morning, the day started with breakfast with student-athletes that participate in various student athlete groups such as Black Student-Athlete Alliance, International Student-Athlete Alliance, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and Athlete Ally. 

Brown and Henderson also had the chance to share some of the educational travel opportunities the Big Ten is offering in the coming months.
 
“Our visit to Nebraska offered our community and impact staff to interact with student-athletes across various identities to hear their feedback, take a tour of the new world class facility that will be opening soon and connect with key campus stakeholders," Brown said.
 
After the panel, they ventured to Life Skills where they had the chance to speak with Keith Zimmer, Executive Associate AD - Life Skills, about the everyday resources available to student-athletes. The next stop was Memorial Stadium where the representatives ate lunch at the training table, toured the facilities and had the chance to check out different student athlete serving areas within the stadium. 
 
After lunch, Nebraska Athletics hosted the monthly Big Ten Equality Coalition Call, featuring conversation from Dr. Alexes Harris, a professor and Faculty Athletic Rep for The University of Washington. Following dinner at the training table, the group wrapped up the night at Bowlin Stadium where they watched Nebraska Softball take on Omaha.

They concluded the trip the next morning over breakfast in the Haymarket.