Rachel Silverman

I think my parents and the way they raised me have been the biggest factors in my success. They both had their own companies and worked really hard to provide for us and so that we could have a comfortable life, but they always taught us that you give 100%. My dad used to say, don't do anything halfway, otherwise don't do it at all. You know, like, if you're gonna do something, you commit to it, and you do it 100%, so I think that really motivated me, and seeing them work hard motivated me as well. They've said that I'm just self-motivated. That's what they claim. They don't know where I got it from, but I know they had a big role in it.

Higher education can still be a male-dominated field. I've done a lot of research on that and published an article on that. So you have to not be afraid to be strong and to push for what you want. Sometimes that might rub some people the wrong way, or they might think that you're being bitchy or giving them attitude, but they don't say the same thing about their male counterparts. So, there's always a fine line, but I think that you need to not let those things get to you, or you work through them. You have mentors that help you work through those issues, but you have to push for what you want, and really go for it.

I think our field is growing, and the great thing about sport management is that sports are not going anywhere. I tell my students there's always going to be jobs in sports. They might change, they might look a little different, but there's always going to be opportunities for students to get internships and to get jobs after they graduate. So it's a great field to go into, which just means that those of us who teach sport management, it's also growing. It's becoming a more legitimate field. People are realizing the value of learning these skills in undergrad. You can't just be an athlete and then go work in sports. You need to learn about the business side, because it's very different once you learn that - the marketing, the finance, the legal aspects. So, for faculty, that gives us a lot of opportunities, because our programs are continuing to grow. For women, too, we're seeing a lot more women start to move into sports and sport management, because women's sports is also growing. From the grassroots level, as the more women that are involved in sports, then more women are going to be involved in the business side of sports and coaching roles as well. I'm excited to continue to see that grow, and also see the media has been showing women's sports more, which will continue to help it grow as well.

I try to teach the students that you have to show up and be ready to work. Sports, sometimes, are gonna have weird hours. You might have to work weekends, you might have to work nights, but you need to be on time, you need to give 100%, you need to be prepared, you need to go above and beyond, especially when there's a ton of people who want these same jobs, that are fighting for these same jobs. So how are you going to stand out? I've been really proud of the recent graduates that we've had these past couple years that I've been here, because they've all gone on to either go to graduate school or to go right into the industry and get some great jobs, like working for UNL Athletics Department, working for the Kansas City Royals. A lot of them are getting their dream jobs, so I'm really excited to see that.