Written by: Kevin Hulsmann '16
BEREA, Ohio – Baldwin Wallace University alumna and women's basketball hall of famer Julie Work '98 was honored on Tuesday, May 3 as one of three Women in Sports and Events (WISE) Cleveland Women of the Year Award winners.
"The award is not about me, it is about the people who have helped pushed me to where I am at today", said Work. "I feel very fortunate and humble to receive this award."
Work currently is the Assistant Executive Director at the National Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) in Westlake, where she serves as the primary administrator for three associations. As the administrator of those associations, Work is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations, annual meetings and other related activities.
She was best known at BW for her "work ethic" on the basketball court as one of the best scorers and rebounders in school history. Work started all 112 games of her collegiate career and her 1,146 career points rank fifth and her 830 rebounds are second all-time. She led the Yellow Jackets to four straight appearances in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. Work was inducted into the BW Hall of Fame in 2008.
"I feel like it can't be all work, you have to find that balance," said Work. "I worked 20-25 hours weekly off of campus and then also played basketball and went to school. You really need to learn that time management because that is so critical."
Individually, Work was a four-year letterwinner and starter (1995-99), earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors three times, Academic All-OAC accolades twice, was an OAC Player of the Week twice, earned second-team All-Great Lakes Region and Division III All-America accolades in 1997-98. Following graduation, Work served as a graduate assistant and then assistant Sports Information Director at the College.
After BW, Work became the information director at the OAC in September of 2000, responsible for managing the publicity efforts of the conference office, along with along with the 10 institutions that were members in the conference.
Work joined the NACDA staff in September of 2006 as the Director of Communications and was promoted to her current position in June of 2011. In September of 2014, Work transitioned out of communications and now serves in her current position as the primary administrator for three of NACDA's 15 associations.
Work believes that by winning this award, she'll show young females that it is possible to make a name for yourself in the sports industry.
"I think young females need to go outside of their comfort zone," said Work. "They sometimes feel that they are not as qualified as a male, but that is not case. It comes down to someone giving you the opportunity and that goes for a male as well. You need to have that person that really believes in you and will take a chance on you."
