Felder Attends Big Ten Fellow Retreat

Nebraska’s Assistant Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives Mya Felder traveled to Chicago for the Big Ten Fellow Retreat, Feb. 19-20. Through the two-day professional development experience, Felder and the other eight fellows visited the Big Ten Headquarters, the Chicago Bulls United Arena and the Chicago Bears Halas Hall. 
 
“This experience was both engaging and educational. Learning about the daily duties and commitments it takes to work in professional sports was truly an eye-opening experience that gave more perspective on the demands of athletics at the next level” Felder said. “We also had the opportunity to learn about some of the rich history involved in all three of the organizations we visited. This gave insight to many different realms of sport.” 

Big Ten Senior Vice President of Community and Impact Omar Brown provided a tour of the conference office on Monday before dinner with all the fellows. 
 
On Tuesday morning, the Joint Group was meeting while the fellows had breakfast at the Big Ten office. Joint Group occurs when all Athletic Directors, Senior Women’s Administrators, and Faculty Athletic Representatives of Big Ten schools meet three times a year. Felder learned how other schools operate by getting the chance to network with the SWAs and Faculty Reps that morning. Additionally, each fellow gave an introduction in front of the group before meetings started for the day.
 
“This was an awesome opportunity to be in front of a room of high-level individuals from across the conference,” Felder said.
 
Following breakfast, Mya Perez, Big Ten Assistant Director of Community and Impact led the fellows to the Chicago Bulls’ United Arena, where they listened to a panel of full-time employees from different departments including fundraising, ticketing, content creation and human resources. The employees provided insight on the professional side of sports, before the fellows toured the facility.

After the United Arena, they traveled to Halas Hall, the headquarters of the Chicago Bears. Felder and the other fellows ate lunch at the Bears’ training table, toured the facilities and walked over to the Walter Payton Center, the indoor practice field. There they heard from two panels including various staff members representing different departments across the organization.

They concluded the trip at the conference office discussing what they learned.