By Bri Brands 

Nearly 50 University of Iowa students met with Big Ten Conference Officials, including University of Iowa alumni, in Chicago, where they learned about career exploration opportunities. 

Sport and recreation management program director Dan Matheson has been helping to broaden College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students’ perspectives by leading trips to different athletic facilities all around the country. The sport and recreation management program is housed in the Department of Health, Sport, and Human Physiology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. 

This year, Matheson took students to the Big Ten Conference headquarters in Chicago, where former Hawkeyes hold leadership and staff positions, and Matheson has several connections. 

“It’s a location where students can learn a lot about what’s going on in the college athletics industry,” Matheson said. “They can meet a lot of young, dynamic professionals that are just a couple steps ahead of them in their professional careers and provide great advice and mentorship.” 

Matheson opened the trip to all university students, knowing that many students on campus have career paths that might align with a career in college athletics. In addition to CLAS students, several Tippie College of Business and College of Law students joined, with the trip totaling 46 students. 

During the trip, students had the opportunity to sit in three different panels and take a tour of the Big Ten Replay Center, which serves as the hub for all replay reviews during Big Ten football games, learning all about the operations of college athletics at the highest level. 

Students met with staff from a variety of areas in the Big Ten, including football administration, marketing, event management, human resources, communications, branding, community relations, accounting, television administration, and general sports administration. 

Among the panelists were former Iowa students, including coordinator of people and culture Ella Demaray, who graduated in spring 2024.  

For Zoe Bentler, an incoming fourth-year studying journalism and sport, media, and culture, the main takeaway from the trip was seeing women with similar experiences to her succeeding in the sports field.  

“It’s always a huge deal for me to see any female that’s succeeding in the sports world. I feel like they’re very underrepresented in today’s day and age,” Bentler said. “Hearing from Ella and talking with her one on one really stuck with me.” 

Matheson said having a variety of panelists helped everyone on the trip—from first year undergraduate students to second-year law students—learn how to take the steps necessary for the future they want for themselves. 

“The students now have a better idea of what the path could look like for them over the next three to five years to get to an illustrious goal like working in the Big Ten Conference,” Matheson said. 

Connor Olson, who recently graduated with his Master of Arts in sport and recreation management, said he never realized there are staff focused specifically on replay reviews. He said it was beneficial to hear from people in the industry he hopes to find a career in. 

“This trip gave me the opportunity to develop my networking skills and make connections with professionals in the field,” he said. 

Bentler learned about positions she had no idea existed before and was able to envision steppingstones to her dream of becoming an NBA broadcaster. 

“It made me realize how many different career paths there are in sports. Those are jobs you don’t hear about and get pushed aside because they’re not the big broadcasting job, but it was nice to hear representation of those jobs that can help me reach my dream goal eventually,” she said.  

Olson added how he loved hearing about the different career paths each Big Ten employee took before landing in their current position. 

“It was very reassuring to learn that everyone’s career path looked different, so there is no one right or wrong way to achieve your goals,” he said.