She oversees 23 varsity sports which compete at the NCAA Division III level in addition to the intramural and club sports programs and is just the ninth DePauw director of athletics in the last 88 years.
Since her arrival, Baker-Watson has overseen the $26 million Phase One of the Athletics and Recreation Facilities Master Plan, the transition of men’s and women’s lacrosse to NCAA varsity status and established a new logo system for athletics.
An Assistant Athletic Director at North Central (Ill.) College, Baker-Watson started there in 2007 and directed the department’s compliance and eligibility activities as well as all aspects of its student-athlete leadership development programming. Prior to North Central, Baker-Watson spent eight years at Aurora University where she was the head athletic trainer, senior woman administrator and instructor of physical education. As part of the athletics management team, she oversaw all aspects of game operations, directed student-athlete education as CHAMPS/Life Skills Coordinator, helped develop marketing and promotions initiatives and served as advisor for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Baker-Watson has served on the NCAA Division III Membership Committee and the NCAA Ethnic Minority and Women’s Internship Grant selection committee. She recently served as a facilitator for the NCAA Career in Sports Forum and was an instructor for the Emerging Administrators Academy and the NCAA Emerging Leaders Symposium.
She holds memberships in NACDA, the National Association of Division III Athletics Administrators, National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators and has been a member of the local organizing committee for the Women’s Leadership Symposium. Baker-Watson also has facilitated programs on staff development/work-life balance at the NCAA National Convention, NCAA Gender Equity and Issues Forum and NACWAA National Convention.
A graduate of Ohio University with a degree in athletic training, she earned a master’s in exercise science and cardiac rehabilitation from Northeastern Illinois University.
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