More than 150 Students Attend “A Career in Sports Night” at UConn Alumni Center
Seeking advice, stories of inspiration and the opportunity to network with industry professionals, more than 150 UConn students flocked to “A Career in Sports Night” on February 26, an event featuring breakout sessions and interactive discussions with 16 UConn alumni currently working in the sports industry.
Organized and hosted jointly by UConn’s Center for Career Development, Alumni Association and Sport Management Program, the event was opened by UConn’s Director of Major Gifts, Meg Culmo (’92), who encouraged the students to not ever put limits on what they might do in the future.
Speaking from experience, the UConn communications major, UConn women’s basketball captain and NCAA championship-winning assistant coach never thought her career in broadcasting could lead to a job as a political lobbyist or her current position at UConn focusing on fundraising efforts for capital projects and engaging former UConn student-athletes. Doing her best in each of the roles she performed opened up unexpected doors and networking opportunities with a people in a wide array of industries over the years that has led her to her current job, which she loves passionately as it is full of great people, challenges, and great reward in supporting the institution that helped provide much of the infrastructure of her own success.
After introductions, student divided into four breakout sessions – Finding a Career in Sports, Sports in Education & the Community, Broadcasting & Journalism, and Women Working in Sports. Each breakout session featured 3-4 UConn alumni who are experts in the session topic and shared their personal stories of how they got their jobs, what challenges they faced as they tried to break into the sports industry workforce, how the job has changed since they were students and what recommendations or advice they would give to students as they enter the market.
Rotating to a second group session at the evening’s halfway point, students had the opportunity to learn from a whole new group of alumni. At the end of the evening, all students and alumni participated in an open networking session – giving the opportunity for personal exchanges of information and laying the groundwork for future contact between current students and the alumni team.
A huge thanks to all of our UConn alumni who participated in the event!
Meg Culmo, Brent Colborne, Alyssa Davanzo, Billy Haubrich, Allison Cantor, Paul Gagnon, Kristen Hargis, David Longo, Kirsten Britton, Chris Stasaitis, Danielle DeRosa, Dennis Moynihan, Alexandra Badalucco, Kate Mainelli and Julie Purcell.