Important Dates

The Legacy

About 

The Snell-Shillingford Symposium began in 1999, founded by Jen Shillingford, the then-athletic director of Bryn Mawr College, to encourage women undergraduates to enter the field of coaching. Over the years, it has evolved into a leadership program that empowers undergraduate women to pursue various positions of leadership in athletic administration, coaching, athletic training, athletics communication, and more.

This two-day program aims to enrich participants' skills and expand their professional network. This year's symposium will be held on October 12-13 in Baltimore, Maryland, featuring keynote speakers Dr. Amy Wilson from the NCAA, Jacee Hall from Unbreakable Female Athlete, and more. The Centennial Conference will cover meals, the full cost of attendance, and the hotel stay for participants.

History

The symposium honors the contributions and commitment of two of the most influential women in the coaching profession, Eleanor Frost Snell and Jen Shillingford. Miss Snell, as she was known to her students, served Ursinus College as a professor of health and physical education, coach, and head of the women's physical education department for four decades, from 1931 to 1971. In keeping with the program's emphasis on mentoring and passing on the education of coaches from one generation to the next, the symposium also bears the name of Snell's student and mentee, Jen Shillingford, who served as a field hockey coach and athletic director for over 20 years at Bryn Mawr and president of the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA).

The Lineup

Learn from leaders, administrators, researchers, and top professionals about how to position yourself for any professional career or a career in athletics.

2024-25 Snell Snapshot 

Written by Heather Lamont

Day 1: Intentionality, Authenticity, Confidence

This year marked the 26th anniversary of the Snell-Shillingford Symposium! The 26th anniversary brought on new and exciting opportunities for female athletes in the Centennial Conference. This year, the Snell-Shillingford Symposium was held in Baltimore, Maryland in conjunction with the Women Leaders in Sport National Convention. Traditionally, Jen Shillingford opens the weekend by sharing the history of the symposium and her work with Elanor Frost Snell. While she was not there in person, her and Elanor Frost Snell's influence was deeply felt throughout the event. We are thankful for the vision they established and for the 25 cohorts who came before us for this amazing opportunity. 

The Past, Present, and Future of Title IX
Dr. Amy Wilson opened the day with a discussion about the history and importance of Title IX. Dr. Wilson works in the NCAA Office of Inclusion and focuses on inclusion in 5 main areas- disability, international, LGBTQ+, race/ethnicity, and women/gender. Dr. Wilson began her discussion by highlighting the 10 things covered under Title IX that aren't as focused on. These aspects include higher education, technology, employment, career
education, and more, though her goal was to focus on how Title IX applies to athletics. Dr. Wilson explained the three ways athletic departments can comply with Title IX- financial aid,
interest and abilities, benefits, opportunity, and treatment. While many people, especially within athletics, know of Title IX, not many know of its history and various aspects. Dr. Wilson's presentation emphasized the importance of Title IX and all 10 topics covered by it, along with the importance of continuing to educate ourselves and others.

The Power of Mentorship
The second discussion of the day was a conversation about mentorship with Jennifer Lynne Williams, Chief Development Officer of the USA Basketball Foundation. She discussed the importance of having mentors, sponsors, and champions, along with being those people for others. Mentors are coaches and leaders, sponsors are supporters, and champions are cheerleaders who can lift you up when you're down! Jennifer focused on controlling the controllable, such as kindness, effort, attitude, and self-talk. She also emphasized the importance of intentionality and doing your work with purpose. The importance of "leading with love" in her journey through leadership and athletics was incredibly inspiring. 

The Path to Leadership
Sarah Feyerherm spoke next on the path to leadership and the winding road and what the path may look like. Feyerherm is the Vice President for Student Affairs at Washington College and discussed what her path toward leadership looked like. Feyerherm talked about how important personal values are and conducted an exercise intended to help find the values most important to us. She stated that values can serve as a guiding light, leading your path to leadership. Along with the importance of values, Feyerherm also emphasized the importance of learning from the journey towards leadership.

Day 2: Breaking Barriers and Filling Spaces

No Dream is Too Large
Jaecee Hall opened day two with an inspiring talk about being Unbreakable! Jaecee Hall is the CEO and founder of Unbreakable Female Athlete and led a discussion about how she founded her company. Hall talked about her journey through athletics and becoming a
founder and CEO, and her focus was on pivoting. When the journey got tough and chapters seemed to close, Hall found a way to pivot, transition, and remain Unbreakable. Hall emphasized the importance of positive self-talk and affirmations. She uses the term "Unbreakable" as a mental state and uses it to remain strong and resilient in the face of adversity. Along with this Hall used the adversity she faced to ignite a fire to better athletics for future female athletes.

Fearless Women in Sport
Next up, Dr. Ellen Staurowsky, a professor at Ithaca College, presented what it means to be fearless in athletics, specifically in the face of adversity. Dr. Staurowsky's focus was on the marketing of women's sports and its discrepancies. She discussed the lack of support female athletes have received historically and emphasized that the position female athletes are in today is due to the work put in by fearless women. Dr. Staurowsky advocates for more marketing and investment opportunities in women's sports to give fearless women the spotlight. Along with this, Dr. Staurowsky discussed being mindful of the history we bring with us as we continue to shape the future.

SWA Panel
Lastly, we had the opportunity to ask some of our Centennial Conference, Senior Women Administrators and mentors about their positions at their institutions. An SWA or a Senior Woman Administrator historically has been the highest-ranking woman administrator in the office. Their jobs are to help provide fair and equal opportunities and treatment for everyone on campus, mentally, physically, and academically. They work to support equity across all teams, coaches, genders, and more. SWAs are important in providing representation for women in leadership and can provide young athletes with role models and mentors. Meeting and connecting with the SWAs on our campuses provided another resource for us to go to. 

Next Steps
To conclude the weekend, each school had the opportunity to meet individually and work on a project to take back to their campus to continue educating and inspiring female athletes. After the presentations of the Takeaway projects, some of the 26th cohort had the amazing opportunity to attend the Women Leaders in Sport 2024 National Convention which gave us the opportunity to learn from and connect with women leaders in so many different positions in professional and collegiate sports along with the companies that support athletics.

The Snell-Shillingford Symposium gave me such a wonderful opportunity to meet and connect with female athletes from the Centennial Conference. I learned so many wonderful lessons from the fearless and unbreakable women who led our discussions and the women I have the pleasure of calling my friends. The opportunity to attend the symposium last year as a part of the 25th cohort was truly a tremendously inspirational experience, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to experience it again this year as an intern for the 26th cohort. There are no words to properly express my gratitude to Portia, Tim, Amber, the Centennial Conference, and Women Leaders in Sport for this opportunity. As I was able to say after attending Snell as a participant, and again as an intern, the Snell-Shillingford Symposium changed the way I view myself and athletics. I am incredibly excited to see where the Snell-Shillingford Symposium goes in the future and I cannot wait to see how, with each cohort, we continue to make a difference for women in athletics.



The Experience 

2024-25 RECAP

"'I HAVE A DREAM' I hope that some day every Division III Conference will offer a similar symposium. We know that the Centennial Conference has had over 50% of their symposium participants enter the field of women's athletics. Therefore if we play the "numbers game", the possibility exists for the development of over 200 new women coaches in Division III. This would go a long way toward closing the gender gap." -Jen Shillingford