FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Ivy League was one of five Division I conferences to be a part of the third annual Women’s Leadership Forum on Tuesday, May 15 on Sacred Heart University’s campus.

The America East, the Ivy League, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the Northeast Conference and the Patriot League partnered with the Alliance of Women Coaches and Women Leaders in College Sports to provide an impactful and empowering professional development opportunity for their institutions, with over 100 women administrators and coaches from the five leagues in attendance.

During the 2016-17 academic year, women represented 11.3 percent of Division I athletics directors and 39.7 percent of Division I head coaches in women’s sports. The forum was an effort by partnering conferences and organizations to increase representation of women in leadership positions based on the low percentages.

As a continuation of the two (2) previous forums at Marist College in May of 2016 and at the University of Hartford in December of 2016, which had been focused on women coaches, this year’s forum was expanded to include both coaches and administrators for the first time.

The forum included panels consisting of coaches and athletics administrators, as well as breakout sessions. The topics that were discussed throughout the day included the history and current status of Title IX, building and sustaining synergies between administrators and coaches, what to expect as a sport supervisor, what to expect as a head coach, salary and contract negotiating, mental health awareness, effectively managing your staff, and LGBT inclusion.

“My favorite segment was definitely the Title IX talk given by Amy Wilson. Amy [Wilson] is an amazing speaker and has done so much with Title IX and inclusivity in general,” said Nicole Gaudenzi, an Athletics Academic Advisor at Iona College. “Inclusion is such an important topic in athletics, especially when it comes to gender and sexual orientation, and her speech was extremely inspirational to those listening to get involved and take action to make this less of an issue and welcome anyone to the world of athletics with open arms.”

“The event was an amazing opportunity for talented women leaders from five athletic conferences to come together for learning, sharing, and networking,” said Amy Wilson, the Director of Inclusion at the NCAA. “This impactful professional development opportunity positions administrators and coaches to be even more successful at teaching and leading their student-athletes. It was inspiring to spend the day with such incredible leaders who were supporting each other in such meaningful ways to reach professional and personal goals.”

For more information on the Alliance of Women Coaches and Women Leaders in College Sports visit gocoaches.org and womenleadersincollegesports.org.