The Rampage October 2019

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bc Rampage.com

Walker Br ings New Vision to BC Athletics by Jordan Gonzalez Sport Management • 2019

Bluefield College has a new full-time Athletics Director (AD). Her name is Tonia Walker, and she’s ready to make a difference. Walker takes over leadership of the Athletics program after BC’s Mike White served in the role on a part-time basis while also serving as head coach of the Rams baseball team. The change in leadership comes in response to the need to have a full-time AD manage BC’s growing Athletics program, and Walker says she’s eager to fill the role and grow the Bluefield College brand. Walker is a native of Newberry, South Carolina. Her small-town roots are what make her ideals unique and what will make change possible with the Athletics program. Along with her work experience at previous schools, she brings a desire to take on the challenges of a small college athletics program. Walker attended Hampton University where she was a two-sport athlete in basketball and softball. She understands what it is like to be a student-athlete and the struggles of balancing athletics and academics. After college, she stayed in Hampton, Virginia, where she began a career in sports administration with the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). While working with the CIAA she also earned a master’s degree in sports administration and recreation from Old Dominion University. After seven years with the CIAA, Walker went to work for Winston-Salem State University

in North Carolina. After 14 years in sports administration, she was promoted to Athletics Director at Winston-Salem State, a position she held for four years before accepting the call to serve at Bluefield College. She said after reviewing the job description and the needs at BC, she believed her experience would be ideal for the job. With her, Walker brings what she calls four pillars that will guide her and the Athletics program to success. The first pillar is academic excellence. This she said is the starting point of making a successful student-athlete. She shared with BC coaches that she wants to make sure that the college’s student-athletes graduate, and that her goal is to provide the academic support necessary to make that happen. “We are building support systems and tracking grades to increase GPAs and the retention rate,” Walker said. “We are making sure that we are doing all that we can to increase graduation rates.” The second pillar is athletic success. Walker admits that her sports background has made her competitive and has given her a winning mentality that she hopes to instill in coaches and athletes. “We want to win,” she said. “We want our students to compete in regional tournaments. We want them to be recognized. We want to compete in national championships.” •••

ToniaWalker, director of athletics