Abayomi Awoyomi of WashU is a multi-talented senior who recently broke the program record in the triple jump. He is the co-president of WashU's BLAC (Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition) and was featured in the UAA Race and Racism series.
Alana Dawson is a sophomore volleyball student-athlete at Emory, where she is majoring in quantitative sciences and minoring in business. This past season, she averaged 2.75 kills per set with a .268 hitting percentage for the UAA champion Eagles. Dawson volunteers for Emory Miracle, a nonprofit that holds a dance marathon to support the local children's hospital, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
Alya Campbell is a junior sprinter and hurdler who is studying computer science and applied mathematics at Brandeis. She ran the third leg of the Judges' All-UAA 400-meter relay at the 2022 UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Campbell was a part of the leadership team planning the Black student-athlete event at the 2023 UAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Andrea McPherson is a sophomore track student-athlete at Emory, where she is a pre-med student studying neuroscience. She serves on the executive board of the Black Student Athlete Group and was a panelist on Emory's first Black Student Athlete Experience Panel on Feb. 13, 2023.
Andrew Whitaker, who was recently part of the XFL's Houston training camp, won eight UAA track championships, ran on a NCAA championship relay, and helped lead WashU to its first NCAA indoor title by winning the national championship in the 60-meter hurdles. A leader and two-sport student-athlete (football) who majored in biomedical engineering at WashU, he was also featured in the UAA Race and Racism series.
Angie Torain is in her second year as UChicago Director of Athletics and Recreation after serving as Senior Associate Athletics Director of Culture, Diversity, and Engagement at University of Notre Dame. In addition to her athletic administrative duties at Notre Dame, she was also an adjunct professor of sports law in the university's law school. Torain received her bachelor's degree from DePauw University before earning her Juris Doctor degree at the Maurer School of Law at University of Indiana.
Anthony J. Azama is in his sixth year as the WashU’s Associate Vice Chancellor and the John M. Schael Director of Athletics and is currently in his third year on the National Association of College Directors of Athletics Executive Committee. Prior to coming to WashU, he spent two years as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Operations at Columbia University. Azama graduated cum laude at Vanderbilt University, where he was a three-year letterwinner on the football team.
Antone Melton-Meaux competed in track and field while earning a degree in religious studies at WashU. The track and Academic All-America honoree earned a spot on the UAA Track and Field 30th Anniversary Team. Then known as Antone Meaux, he married teammate Genevieve Melton and they combined their last names into one. Antone and Genevieve’s oldest child, Ava, is now a freshman at WashU. Antone is the founder and CEO of Work Resolve Mediation, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, and a former U.S Congressional Candidate in Minnesota.
Bianca Smith was the first Black woman to be a professional baseball coach when she was hired as a minor league baseball coach with the Boston Red Sox organization. She graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in sociology in 2012 before earning her MBA and law degree from CWRU in 2017. She was the Director of Baseball Operations and graduate assistant coach. She has also coached at University of Dallas and Carroll University.
Brandon Roberts remains the only non-FBS recipient of the Campbell trophy, the "Academic Heisman." He earned his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from WashU and earned his medical degree from CWRU. Roberts, who has been a pediatric anesthesiologist since 2013, is a member of the UAA Football 30th Anniversary Team.
Brianna Jones is the head volleyball coach at Emory after serving as an assistant coach there from 2017-20, which included the program's second NCAA title in 2018. She spent the last two seasons as head coach at Stevens, posting a 50-16 record and earning back-to-back trips to the NCAA tournament. Jones finished her career at Georgia State University and earned her master's degree at Columbus State University.
Caira Watson-Haynes is a 2021 graduate of WashU, where she majored in education and urban studies public policy. She earned All-America and UAA Presidents Council honors, and was named the Most Outstanding Performer for running events at the 2020 UAA indoor track and field championship. Watson-Haynes co-founded the Bears' Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition and served as first co-president. She is currently enrolled at Duke Law School and is president of the Duke Black Law Students Association.
Caleb Bunch is a sophomore track student-athlete at Emory, where he is majoring in anthropology and minoring in economics. He is a sprinter who competes in the 60- and 200-meter dashes. A member of the Eagles' Black Student Athlete Group (BSAG) and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Bunch volunteers with Project Downtown Atlanta and Emory Village Mentors.
Chadwick Hixon is a 2010 graduate of Emory, where he earned a degree in political science and played basketball as a junior and senior. He went on to earn his master's degree in higher education leadership from Mercer. Hixon currently serves as an academic advisor at Emory after holding a similar role at Georgia State. He has spent his career working to improve retention of students from traditionally underrepresented populations.
Chandler Jones was a basketball student-athlete at Brandeis, earning 2020 first team All-UAA honors before a season-ending injury ended his final season in 2022. He is currently playing professionally for KK Navico Akademija FMP based in Skopje, North Macedonia. Jones is averaging 11.6 points, 5.9 points, and 2.4 assists per game while playing 31.7 minutes per game.
Chidera Nwokolo is a junior basketball student-athlete on the pre-med track at WashU, where he is studying neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. Minoring in African and African-American studies, Nwokolo is a member of SAAC and serves as the community outreach chair of the Bears' Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition. Hewas part of WashU's Black Student-Athlete panel discussion on Feb. 15.
Chiené Joy Jones played four years of basketball at NYU, being named co-captain in her senior year, and served four years as the team's assistant coach. In 2018, she founded Grow Our Game, an organization created to change the narrative for girls' sports participation while empowering young girls to become fierce leaders. Throughout her career, Jones has led efforts to break generational poverty and advocate for urban youth. She currently serves as a principal for a NYC Early Education Center in the South Bronx.
Cinqué Stephens is a junior basketball student-athlete at NYU majoring in economics and minoring in business. He was named UAA Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week earlier this season after averaging 30.0 points per game in two wins. He is named after Joseph Cinqué, who led a slave revolt aboard the Spanish schooner Amistad on July 2, 1839.
CJ Harrington is a 2017 graduate of WashU, where he was captain of the basketball team and was the founder/editor-in-chief of the WashU Undergraduate Law Review. He graduated with his law degree from Stanford Law School in 2020, while also earning a certificate in entrepreneurship from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Harrington, who was selected as a member of last year’s class for the Sports Business Journal New Voices Under 30, is a Sports and M&A Associate at Hogan Lovells in D.C.
Jonathan Coffy is a sophomore basketball student-athlete at WashU, where he is double majoring in psychology and finance, while also pursuing a minor in business of sports. After college, he plans to continue playing basketball before hopefully entering the Sport Business/Corporate industry.
Curtis Spence is the NYU Assistant Athletic Director for the Brooklyn campus operations. He served as the Director of Athletics at NYU-Poly from 2012-14 before the school merged with NYU. Spence's career has covered multiple skill sets, including coaching, fundraising, and working with youth. In addition, he serves as the athletic department's Diversity and Inclusion Designee.
David Victor is a 2019 graduate of NYU, where he majored in applied physics and minored in creative writing. He played two years of soccer before co-founding and serving as co-president of Ritmo, NYU's Latin Dance Club. Victor, who was also president of the school's Society of Undergraduate Physicists, is now a senior consultant on the Application Cloud Technologies team at Capgemini, where he has worked since graduation. He is also a DJ, working weddings, corporate events, and parties.
Dayo Adeosun is a 2020 graduate of UChicago, where he studied economics and played on two NCAA Final Four soccer teams. He holds the program's single-season assist record with 15. Adeosun is the co-founder of video NFT platform Glass Protocol, and is the founder and co-CEO of social media app Spott.
Deko (Ricketts) Devins earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from WashU in 2017. He was named the UAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Most Outstanding Performer for running events in 2016 and is a member of the UAA Track and Field 30th Anniversary Team. Devins is the Vice President of Operations at Azimuth Energy, which specializes in solar-energy solutions that advance climate sustainability.
Demetrius "DJ" Johnson, Jr. is a 2022 Odyssey Scholar graduate of UChicago, where he studied economics. He was a football student-athlete who founded the Maroons' Black Lettewinning Athlete Coalition, the first student-athlete group of color in UAA history, in 2020. Johnson is now an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York City and he has been accepted into the Moelis Advance Access Program at UPenn's Wharton School of Business, where he plans to begin studying in Fall 2026.
Doyin Ogundiran is a 2019 graduate of Brandeis, where she studied psychology and ran track, capturing a NCAA Division III championship as part of the Judges' distance medley relay. The victory at the 2019 indoor meet in Boston was the first relay NCAA title in program history. Ogundiran is pursuing a master in kinesiology with a concentration in biomechanics at University of Illinois-Chicago.
Dr. Lori S. White is the 21st president of DePauw University and the first person of color to serve as the university's president. She left a lasting legacy in the UAA, particularly regarding issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion serving as vice chancellor for student affairs for five years at Washington University. She was featured in the UAA's Conversations About Race and Racism series.
Ebun Opata is a junior jumper at WashU majoring in psychological and brain sciences. She placed third in the triple jump at the NCAA outdoor championship and fifth indoors. Opata has already been named UAA Women's Field Athlete of the Week three times this semester. Opata currently holds the second-best distance in NCAA Division III in the triple jump this season and is tied for fourth in the long jump.
Eka Jose was an All-American track and field standout at WashU who double majored in biology and anthropology: global health and environment. She was a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award and received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Jose, who swept the triple jump titles at the 2019 NCAA indoor and outdoor championships, was a co-founder and co-president of WashU's Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition. She is now a first-year medical student at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Elise Moore is a junior pre-med student-athlete (sprinter on the track and field team) at CWRU, where she is studying medical anthropology. She recently set her personal best in the 400-meter run. Moore serves as the event coordinator for the Spartans' Black Latinx Athletic Coalition, and was the key campus leader in organizing the first UAA Black Student-Athlete event at the UAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in 2022 and has maintained a leadership role in the event ever since.
Ephraim Reed is a senior basketball student-athlete at NYU studying sports management. He is currently interning with the Black Fives Academy, developing curriculum to educate Big East Conference student-athletes about the pre-NBA Black history in basketball. Reed has served as a student representative on the UAA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee since its inception.
Erison Hurtault is a two-time Olympian track athlete who swept the 400-meter run in all eight Ivy League indoor and outdoor championship meets, and was inducted into the Columbia University Hall of Fame. He led the NYU cross country and track & field teams for seven years. In 2021, he earned his MBA and is now an associate at McKinsey and Company.
Frederick Dauphin is a 2020 graduate of Carnegie Mellon, where he majored in astrophysics and was a captain of the track and field team. He earned two All-UAA honors in the triple jump and one in the long jump. Dauphin is now a Science Support Analyst at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
Gabe Haithcock is a sophomore soccer student-athlete at Brandeis University. He is majoring in biology and neuroscience. Haithcock is the founder and president of the Judges' first Student Athletes of Color group.
Gabrielle Clark is a 2014 graduate of Emory, where she made NCAA history while earning her degree in accounting. The three-time UAA Most Valuable Player and two-time NCAA Division III singles champion became the first Black woman to win any NCAA singles title in 2012. She received her MBA from UCLA in 2020 and is now the Senior Manager for Strategy and Operations at LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Gebereal Baitey of Emory University is a former student-athlete and current assistant men's basketball coach whose work around DEI has spanned his entire time at the university. He played professional basketball abroad before COVID-19 ended the season.
Geoff Point-Du-Jour is a sophomore track and field (sprints and jumps) student-athlete at Emory, where he is majoring in economics and human health. He is the co-founder and co-president of the Eagles' Black Student Athlete Group, which formed this past fall. In addition, he is interning at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Max Gomas is a 2018 graduate of Emory, where he earned his degree in political science & Russian. He played 47 games for the Eagles' men's soccer team and played an integral role in the attack during his time. His younger brother, Alex Gomas, is currently a freshman at University of Chicago and made an impressive 10 appearances this season, as the Maroons won the NCAA Division III Championship title. After Emory, Max moved to California and has worked in a number of industries selling with a focus on corporate partnerships and business development. Alex is pre-law at UChicago and is focused on continuing to make an impact – both on and off the field.
Graham Chatoor is a 2022 graduate of NYU, where he studied political science and government. He earned multiple All-America honors, including a runner-up finish in the 500-yard freestyle in the 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. He is the UAA record holder in the event that he won three times in UAA championships. This past August, while swimming for Trinidad and Tobago, Chatoor swam the fastest time in history by a CARIFTA region swimmer at the Commonwealth Games. In addition to continuing his swimming career, he is also an account manager with marketing agency Flo Communications.
Tony Hypsher scored eight goals in three seasons on the University of Rochester men's soccer team with multiple UAA All-Academic honors. He is seeking to play professionally after graduating in May.
Irie Gourde was a senior walk-on to the Brandeis track and field team, ending up as UAA champion and Most Outstanding Performer, and All-American before finishing his career. He lived in three countries before entering college and shortly after graduating, he interned in Tanzania, Gourde now works in technology solutions for NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a nonprofit focused on international education and exchange.
Ivvy Hicks is a junior pre-med student-athlete at UChicago, where she is studying neuroscience. She serves as the secretary of the Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition (BLAC) and is part of the Organization of Black Students. Hicks, a member of the Maroons' Women's Athletic Association, is part of a volunteer program at Comer Children’s Hospital.
Jabari Chiphe is a junior basketball student-athlete at WashU, where he majors in Psychological & Brain Sciences and minors in General Economics and Sports Business. He is a community leader who serves as co-president of WashU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He recently served as a research assistant in WashU School of Medicine's Lab for Child Brain Development. This summer he will be working with Paragon Marketing Group as a Road Warrior Intern.
Jalen Nixon is a sophomore track and field student-athlete at Emory, where he is studying physics. He is an engagement manager at Consult Your Community in which students help strengthen small businesses. Nixon is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Black Student Athlete Group (BSAG).
Janean Cuffee was a basketball student-athlete and NCAA postgraduate scholarship awardee at NYU, where she studied applied psychology. She earned first team All-UAA honors in her sophomore and junior years before losing her senior season to COVID-19. Cuffee is now an 8th grade history teacher at Williamsburg Collegiate and co-coaches both the boys and girls varsity and junior varsity basketball teams.
Janelle Turnquest graduated in 2018 from Emory, where she played softball while majoring in psychology, and minoring in Global Health, Culture, and Society. She finished her career with 21 home runs, which ranks fourth all-time at Emory, and 108 runs batted in. Turnquest earned her master's degree from the Wake Forest University School of Business and now works as a Performance Operations Advisor for the Carolina and Georgia markets of Cigna Healthcare.
Jasmine Sells is a sophomore volleyball student-athlete at WashU, where she is studying political science. The outside hitter earned first team All-Association honors this past fall. Sells was part of WashU's Black Student-Athlete panel discussion on Feb. 15.
Jean Bain has been turning around the Brandeis men's program since taking over in October 2018. He earned America East Rookie of the Year honors at Northeastern University (where he also earned all-conference accolades as a senior) and served as an assistant coach at Ivy League schools Dartmouth and Columbia.
Jonathan Jemison is a 2019 graduate of Emory, where he majored in political science while leading the Eagles' tennis team to two NCAA titles. He finished his career with 205 combined singles and doubles victories, ranking second all-time at the school in singles wins and first in doubles wins. He won the NCAA singles title as a senior. Jemison is graduating from University of Tennessee College of Law this spring.
Jennfier Ngo is a junior volleyball student-athlete at CWRU who has earned first team All-UAA honors in each of her first two seasons. A pre-law student, she serves as president of CWRU's Black and Latinx Athlete Coalition as well as serving on multiple diversity committees of the university. This past summer, she interned on Capitol Hill.
Jerrion Benjamin Forrester is a 1996 graduate of Brandeis, where she was a Hall of Fame track student-athlete. She captured 12 UAA titles and four All-America honors, and is still the program record-holder in the outdoor 100- and 200-meter dashes. Benjamin is now an attorney in the Office of the Public Defender in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Jessica Brooks is a junior basketball student-athlete at WashU, who earned UAA All-Academic and All-Association honors last year. The John B. Ervin Scholar is majoring in finance. Brooks was part of WashU's Black Student-Athlete panel discussion on Feb. 15.
JJ Halaby is a senior basketball student-athlete in the Emory Goizueta Business School. He began his collegiate career at Emory's Oxford College, where he was named Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year. Halaby was a panelist on Emory's first Black Student Athlete Experience Panel on Feb. 13, 2023.
Jon Onyiriuka, who serves as managing director in U.S. sales trading at global financial services firm BTIG, graduated from Rochester with degrees in financial economics, and electrical and computer engineering. He earned a spot on the UAA Basketball 30-Year Anniversary Team.
Joshua Pinckney is a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and tennis student-athlete graduate of Carnegie Mellon, where he double majored in international relations & politics and Hispanic studies while minoring in sociology. He co-founded the Black and Latinx Student-Athlete Coalition, served as a Community Advisor for two years and was active with the peer-support wellness group for athletes, Plaidvocates. An early admit to The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, he is currently a Business & Tech Strategy Consulting Senior Analyst at Accenture.
Jule Brown was a men's basketball student-athlete who graduated from NYU in 2020 with a degree in social sciences. He now works as a brand consultant with Creative Artists Agency, an entertainment and sports agency. Brown's lasting impact on the UAA includes mentoring student-athletes and creating both the UAA Black History Month and UAA Conversations About Race and Racism logos.
Kaya Monrose is a first-year volleyball student-athlete at Emory, where she is studying quantitative science and psychology. She averaged 1.84 kills and 0.56 blocks per set in 23 matches for the UAA champion Eagles. Monrose is a member of the Eagles' Black Student Athlete Group.
Keiko Price is in her third year as Emory Assistant Vice President of Campus Life and Clyde Partin, Sr. Director of Athletics. She previously served as Senior Associate Athletic Director at University of Illinois, where was awarded the university's Lorraine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award in 2018. A 22-time All-American swimmer and NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship honoree, Price was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.
Josiah and Jair Knight are each basketball student-athletes in the UAA. Josiah is a senior at Rochester, where he will earn his dual degrees in business and economics in May. He is a member of the school's Pre-Law Society, and the Finance and Economics Council. Jair is a freshman at Emory, where he is studying business. He is third on the Eagles in scoring and first in steals.
Ladi Iya has served as the Rochester head volleyball coach since 2008 and is also the department's NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Designee. She earned her undergraduate degrees in global studies and French from the University of Evansville, where she remains the all-time single season leader in blocks while ranking second in career blocks. She went on to play in 2002 season of the United States Professional Volleyball league and also represented the Nigerian national team in the 2004 Olympic Qualifiers.
Latye Workman was a basketball student-athlete at Brandeis, where he earned undergraduate degrees in sociology and business, and a master's degree in project and program management. He completed his playing career as a grad student in 2018-19, helping lead the Judges to the ECAC title. Workman is the founder and CEO of Collage NYC, which develops logos, promotional graphics, and apparel designs, and is also working on launching his second business.
Lauren Haynie is in her fourth year as Brandeis University Director of Athletics. She is also serving her second term as chair of the UAA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. A former athletic trainer, Haynie earned her undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Penn State, and earned master's degrees from Old Dominion and Southern New Hampshire, adding a graduate certificate in leadership and diversity in sports management from UConn.
Lauren Gay is a sophomore track student-athlete at WashU who spent her first college summer interning with G&E's civil rights team. She was named the UAA Women's Most Outstanding Performer for running events in her first UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship after opening her UAA career by being named the Women's Rookie of the Year in the UAA indoor championship.
Lavonca Davis graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2020 with a degree in chemical engineering. A second team All-UAA golfer in 2017, she played on the school's first women's team to ever be the top-ranked team in NCAA Division III and served as president of the school's National Society of Black Engineers. Davis is currently a Site Engineer for BP in the Gulf of Mexico.
Lawrence Rowley is a 2021 graduate of Emory, where he played basketball while studying economics. The 2020 UAA Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year was one of two student-athletes on the Emory Athletic Director Search Committee. He was a panelist on the Racism Pandemic Town Hall: Athletes of Color & Athletics in 2020. Rowley, who spent one year as a graduate assistant coach at The College of New Jersey, is now an assistant coach at Princeton.
Leah Saunders is an assistant volleyball coach at Emory, where she earned two UAA Most Valuable Player honors in three years (losing one season to COVID). She helped lead the Eagles to their second NCAA title in 2018. Saunders, who graduated with a degree in anthropology, surpassed 1,000 kills in her shortened career.
Mario Springer is a 1994 graduate of UChicago, where he studied public policy and remains one of the most prolific wrestlers in program history. He was a three-time UAA champion, two-time UAA Most Outstanding Wrestler, four-time NCAA tournament qualifier, and two-time All-American (‘93 and ‘94), and Academic All-American (‘94). Springer earned his law degree from University of Virginia and is now Senior Vice President & General Counsel at Justworks, Inc. in New York.
Dr. Marsha Harris is a surgeon who owns the Park Avenue Colon and Rectal Surgery in New York. She was a recipient of the 2023 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award last month, celebrating her achievements on and off the basketball court at NYU. She was a two-time UAA Player of the Year and scored the NCAA-winning basket with 1.5 seconds left in the 1997 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship title game. Harris was voted Castle Connolly Top Doctors in the New York Metro Area from 2018-2022 and New York Magazine Top Doctors in 2021 and 2022.
Marvin Bennett, Jr,. is a 2021 graduate of Carnegie Mellon, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering while running track. A six-time UAA champion, he swept the Most Outstanding Performer honor for running events at the indoor and outdoor UAA championships in 2019. He earned his master's in mechanical engineering at Columbia University and will begin consulting with McKinsey & Company in D.C. this spring.
Misha Jackson became Emory's women's basketball head coach in the 2017-18 season after being a student-athlete at the university from 2010-13. She ranked in the top-10 in 11 statistical categories when she graduated. Jackson is a co-founder of the UAA Staff Mosaic Committee, which brings together coaches, administrators, and athletic trainers of color.
Monica Harrison is the first and only head coach in Carnegie Mellon softball history, while also serving as Assistant Director of Athletics for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She also serves as co-chair of the UAA Staff Mosaic Committee, which brings together coaches, administrators, and athletic trainers of color.
Naomy Grand'Pierre is a 2019 graduate of the UChicago, where she studied while becoming the first female Olympic swimmer in Haitian history. After her Olympic appearance in 2016, she went on to become the first Haitian to medal in swimming, earning gold and silver in the 50- and 100-meter breaststroke events, respectively, at the 2018 CCCAN Games. Her current focus blends psychology and marketing to create influential content within forward thinking workspaces.
Nicholas Ducheine is the Events and Marketing manager at NYU. He was a three-year student-athlete on the University of Miami football team, maintaining a 3.7 grade point average while majoring in sports administration and minoring in sociology. He is also the athletic department's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee advisor.
Nkiru Udenze graduated with undergraduate and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from WashU in 2016 and 2017, respectively. She earned first team All-UAA honors in volleyball in 2015. Udenze is now a Mechanical Engineer working on sports and entertainment venue design at Henderson Engineers, where she has worked since earning her master's.
Now-Allah James has coached every NYU varsity softball game in program history. He serves as vice president of membership for the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and as co-chair of the UAA Staff Mosaic Committee, which brings together coaches, administrators, and athletic trainers across the Association. James is also on NFCA All-American Committee and Head Coaches Committee for Division III.
Nyisha Lewis is in her first season as an assistant women's basketball coach at Rochester. She was a four-year member of the SUNY Geneseo basketball team, serving as captain in her senior year. Lewis spent the previous six years at the high school level where she was a part of two sectional championship teams and obtained RCAC Coach of the Year honors.
Ola Owodunni is a senior track and field student-athlete at Carnegie Mellon, where she is majoring in biological sciences and psychology. The multi-sport performer earned indoor All-Region honors last season. She serves as the Community Service and Outreach Chair on the Tartans' Black and Latinx Athlete Coalition.
Parker Jones is a junior pre-med track and field student-athlete at Brandeis, double majoring in HSSP (Health, Science, Society, and Policy) and biology. A team captain, he is part of the White Coats for Black Lives (WC4BL) social justice student-run organization and is a first responder for the Brandeis University Emergency Medical Corps. Jones is a part of the leadership team planning the Black student-athlete event at the 2023 UAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Benjamin Pearce is a freshman basketball student-athlete at Emory, where he plans to study business. He finished the regular season of his first collegiate campaign leading the NCAA-bound Eagles in scoring and assists, three-pointers, and free throw percentage.
Quinn Clark is a freshman basketball student-athlete at NYU, where he is studying global public health and biology. He leads the NCAA-bound Violets in rebounding and is averaging double digits in scoring. Clark aspires to work for the Center for Disease Control or another public health institution in epidemiology or public health.
Raquel Williams is a sophomore basketball student-athlete at Rochester, where she is studying health policy and African American studies. She is the co-founder and president of the Yellowjackets' Black Student Athlete Coalition (BSAC), and Community Outreach Chair of the school's Black Student Union (BSU). Williams also serves as membership director at the Alameda Chamber & Economic Alliance.
Rafeal "Ray" Williams is the interim assistant track and field coach at WashU. He earned NCAA All-America honors in the 110-meter hurdles in 1995, a year after helping North Central capture the NCAA outdoor title. Williams is no stranger to the collegiate athletics as he served as an assistant coach at UChicago in 1997-2000 and has held multiple coaching positions since, including Grand Valley State, Ole Miss, and Texas State, where he served as a facilitator for student-athlete development, and diversity and inclusion.
Rhys Bommarito-Logan is a junior football student-athlete who has appeared in 17 games in his first two seasons at UChicago (with one season lost to COVID-19). He is the president of the Maroons' Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition, which was the first student-athlete group of color in the UAA.
RJ Holmes is a junior basketball player at Carnegie Mellon who was named UAA Sophomore Rookie of the Year last year after his freshman season was canceled due to COVID. He serves as president of the Tartans' Black and Latinx Athlete Coalition and has been active in DEI efforts conference-wide.
Ruben "RJ" Christie is a senior baseball student-athlete at CWRU, where he is studying economics. He serves as treasurer for the Spartans' Black and Latinx Athlete Coalition and has been part of the group since its formation. Christie is currently in his second year as the UAA's first-ever sports information intern and helps organize with UAA student-athlete of color groups across the Association.
Romin Williams earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Emory's Goizueta Business School in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He earned three All-UAA honors in basketball and is the all-time program leader in three-pointers and ranks fifth in scoring. Williams volunteered with the Emory Best Buddies Program, teaching sports to youth with mental challenges. He is currently a Business Insights Fellow at McKinsey & Company in Atlanta.
Ross Brown is a 2018 graduate of WashU, where he earned nine All-America honors in swimming while double majoring in economics & strategy, and finance. He was named the 2018 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Swimming and Diving Scholar and was part of the UAA's Conversations About Race and Racism series. Brown was an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton before becoming an MBA candidate at Columbia University.
DeVaughn Rucker earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from WashU in 2020. He earned first team All-UAA honors in basketball in his senior season, while leading the conference in free throw percentage and averaging 12.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Rucker played abroad and earned his master's in mechanical engineering from University of the West of England in 2021. He is currently pursuing his PhD in biomedical engineering at WashU.
Stuart Robinson in his third year as NYU Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Director of Athletics after serving nearly 20 years as the Director of Athletics, Wellness, and Recreation at SUNY New Paltz. He also serves as the UAA Chair of the Athletics Administrators Committee. Robinson earned his undergraduate degree from Williams College and his master's degree in English from Middlebury College.
Sydney Holden is a first year mid-distance runner at Emory, where she is a student-athlete on a pre-med track. She serves as the first year representative on the executive board of the Black Student Athlete Group and was a panelist on Emory's first Black Student Athlete Experience Panel on Feb. 13, 2023.
Tamera Shaw graduated with degrees in psychology and African & African American Studies from Rochester in 2021. The volleyball student-athlete was instrumental in the formation of the Yellowjackets' first Black student-athlete group. Shaw is now a Social Psychology Lab Manager at University of Virginia.
Temilade Adekoya was a volleyball student-athlete at UChicago, where she graduated with a degree in neuroscience in 2022. She earned All-UAA honors in her senior season and was featured in the UAA series "Conversations About Race and Racism." Adekoya is now a Research and Technical Assistant at her alma mater.
Tianna Cobb is a former assistant athletic trainer at CWRU. She was an active member of the UAA Staff Mosaic Committee and was instrumental in the success of the first UAA Indoor Track & Field Championships Black student-athlete get-together in 2022. Cobb is now an injury prevention specialist at Amazon.
TJ Shelton is in his second year as the CWRU James C. Wyant Director of Athletics. He previously served as a senior associate athletic director at Ohio State and spent 15 years in administration at fellow UAA institution WashU. Shelton earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Wichita State University.
Tommy Davis is a senior sprinter at Emory, where he is majoring in anthropology and human biology, while minoring in global development studies. He is the vice president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), creating campus events with Doctors Without Borders. After missing the UAA indoor meet in 2022 due to injury, he was named Most Outstanding Performer for running events at the 2022 UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Clarence "Tre" Armstrong III is a 2021 graduate of CWRU, where he earned a degree in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism. He played five years of baseball, including the abbreviated 2020 season, posting a career-best .360 batting average in 2021. Armstrong is an aspiring medical student currently pursuing a master's in medical physiology at CWRU.
Tristan Reaves is the Coordinator of Student-Athlete Success Programs and the assistant strength & conditioning coach at Emory. He was a two-time All-Academic honoree as a football student-athlete at University of Central Florida, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in Sports and Exercise Science. Reaves also serves as the department liaison for the Eagles' Black Student Athlete Group.
Tyson Thomas is a freshman basketball student-athlete at Emory. He was a captain on his high school basketball team and eclipsed 1,000 points for his career. Thomas was a panelist on Emory's first Black Student Athlete Experience Panel on Feb. 13, 2023.
Vinny Bell is a 2012 graduate of CWRU, where he played four year of soccer and one year of football. He will be inducted into the Spartans' Hall of Fame in April in his first year of eligibility, still ranking as the men's soccer program's all-time leading goal scorer (43) with a program-best 15 game-winning goals, and is tied for the all-time lead with 101 points. A PricewaterhouseCoopers Director, Bell has played in the National Premier Soccer League since graduation. He has netted more than 85 goals, including six this past season for the Rust Belt Conference champion Cleveland Soccer Club, and helped lead AFC Cleveland to a national championship in 2016. He is also a member of the Cleveland Crunch, who won a national championship in 2021.
Bryan Wickliffe is in his first season as an assistant coach for the CWRU men's basketball program that is currently 18-3 and tied for first place in the UAA. He surpassed 1,000 points and 750 rebounds in his career at College of Wooster. In his last assistant coaching position at Muskingum, he mentored a Black male group on campus called "Brothas of the Village" and developed a mentorship program on being academically successful in college.
Zay Freeney is a sophomore basketball student-athlete at NYU, where he is studying sports management with the goal of becoming a sports agent. He is second on the team in scoring this season and earned UAA Athlete of the Week honors in November. Freeney is a member of the National Alliance of African American Athletes.
Zion Kidd is a 2021 graduate of Emory, where he earned his bachelor degrees in anthropology and religion while competing on the track and field team. He also earned a BBA in strategy and management consulting from the Goizueta Business School. Kidd is now a Senior Analyst at Accenture.
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