Celebrating Women In Sport With Yale’s Vicky Chun

8 hours ago 1

Summary

“I never thought I would ever have the opportunity to be an AD, let alone at my alma mater and then at Yale. For me, that was more than a bucket list – it was a dream.” That’s Yale’s Thomas A. Beckett Director of Athletics Vicky Chun in conversation with ADU’s Steph Garcia Cichosz at the 2024 Women Leaders Convention. Reflecting on her trajectory to the big chair, Chun credits Women Leaders in Sports for giving her the push and inspiration to pursue leadership roles throughout her career.

Chun and Garcia Cichosz reflect on the growth of women’s sports and the momentum around the WNBA and collegiate basketball; “If I ever won the lottery, I would spend it on professional women’s sports,” notes Chun. Chun also discusses the evolution of the student-athlete experience at Ivy League institutions and how NIL and the transfer portal are impacting the value of an Ivy League degree.

The conversation is indexed below for efficient viewing (click the time stamp to jump to a specific question/topic).

- Tell me about throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park.
- How did you feel being deep in Harvard territory?
- You are a savvy, social media-friendly AD - how do you draw the line between being a public figure and putting yourself out there with maintaining a level of privacy?
- If you had the chance to be a first-time AD in this era of constant, fast-paced change - would you do it all again?
- When did the possibility of becoming an AD get on your radar? Where you aware of the role during your time as a student-athlete?
- We hear the term "the first" associated with you and your tenure as an AD a lot - how have you used that as motivation and fuel in an unexpected way?
- You were recently appointed to the Division I Women's Basketball Committee - talk to me about the continued upward trajectory for women's basketball at the collegiate and professional levels.
- The growth of the WNBA over the past few years has been incredible.
- There was a Wall Street Journal headline indicating that the value of an Ivy League degree has dropped when it comes to college sports and student-athletes; what is the reality on campus?
- How do you translate "transparency" down through all levels of your staff and then to the student-athletes?
- Talk to me about the power of being stable in a role over a long period of time; when we look at your career trajectory, you've only had a handful of stops but you've had a long tenure at each one.
- Take me back to your early days as an AD in 2013 - what habits or routines did you need to create to handle the demands of the role?
- If NIL were in place while you were competing at Colgate - how do you think you would have participated in it?
- What was your most popular product when you were selling t-shirts in high school?