News from The Mahurin Honors College

Dana Brown is a 2020 graduate of the Mahurin Honors College who, during her time on the Hill, acquired both an undergraduate and a masters degree and worked in the athletics department having a notable impact through her hard work and various passion projects. Dana is originally from Brownsburg, Indiana and has a bachelor's degree in Sports Management with a minor in Business Administration and a masters degree in Recreation and Sport Administration with a concentration in Intercollegiate Athletic Administration. Dana currently works as Assistant Director of Media Relations/Creative Communications at the University of Louisville Athletics and the media contact for the men’s basketball and rowing programs.

Alongside her academic experience, Dana was very involved in the campus community, both in and out of the MHC. “I loved my time at WKU, I think of it very fondly, and so much of that starts with the Honors College.” She served as an honors orientation counselor and an HonorsTopper within the MHC, and was a member of Alpha Delta Pi, Omichron Delta Kappa, and volunteered and worked in the athletic department.

While a part of the MHC, Dana took the opportunity to complete a CE/T on women’s and public health titled, “College Women's Knowledge and Understanding of Women Health Issues: A Descriptive Study”. Because of some personal health struggles, Dana understood the need to be proactive in your health and was surprised to find that not many women had the same baseline knowledge. Therefore, the focus of this thesis was to analyze what women know about the importance of health scans early in life. Dana comments that from her CE/T experience, she learned not to be afraid of trying new things. “Being willing to take the leap of faith, introduce yourself to somebody new and really build a relationship from scratch, a relationship that's really important; I feel like I carry that with me now.”

Dana was drawn to WKU because of its reputable sports management program and its distinction as a Division 1 school. Additionally, she had family members with positive experiences both in the MHC and with WKU athletics.

Dana volunteered to work in the Media Relations Department and later served as a paid student assistant in the same department. She loved her time in the position and due to her hard work and dependability was offered a graduate assistant position during graduate school and after graduation, worked in the department full time. “I was just really lucky that I tried something once, and that was kind of my niche.” Through this work experience, she had the opportunity to work with a variety of sports programs and commends the WKU athletics department on its organization and willingness to let students get involved. “I think the opportunities I had as an undergrad and then the incredible opportunities I also had as a graduate assistant… I wouldn't have had that much responsibility or opportunity at a lot of other division one athletic departments.”

She also worked on a number of passion projects through the athletic department including the WKU Women’s Legacy Fund, a campaign to encourage donations to support women’s sports, the Student Athlete Development Department, and serving in the Leadership Academy which was designed to help student athletes establish and develop better leadership skills. Additionally, she was a part of Athlete Voter Registration Days which was a campaign to help student athletes register to vote. “We ended up registering close to 120 student athletes to vote in 2020 which was just something that was kind of on all of our hearts.”

Dana now has the opportunity to work with students in her current position at the University of Louisville and notes that the mentorship she received at WKU has influenced how she interacts with current students. “I do try to help foster an environment where they're comfortable and able to come to me with anything and feel like I can teach them and they can learn from me. In a way, the mentorship I got at WKU certainly affects how I work with them.”

Dana’s current job involves running social media, department meetings, updating publications and statistics archives, working with the creatives department to monitor deadlines, and talking to media companies. “It's hard to say ‘what does a day in the life typically look like’ because every day is different, which is one of the things that I love.”

When asked to reminisce on her time in the MHC, Dana recalls the community she was able to build. “It’s a community that I really cherish, even nowadays, five years removed.” She recalls building her community through her involvement in the MHC and living in both honors residence halls. “The Honors College definitely values [community], and puts programming in place for that community to be built, I think, really easily.”

Dana gives a couple pieces of advice to current students based on her time on the Hill. “I would just encourage them to start and get going. There's no reason why you can't start as early as possible.” She also speaks to the value of building relationships with your professors. “WKU has an amazing set of faculty and staff that are willing to help students and want them to graduate and achieve their dreams and move on to the next big thing.”