RWC Assistant Director, Andrea Snead, is honored on Zoom with an award named after one of her campus mentors Posted Thursday, April 9, 2020 @ 8:45 PM Zoom meeting: Andrea Snead middle square top row (highlighted). Award name sake Juliette Moore to the right (top row). It is hard to find good news these days. TV, streams, and social media feeds are filled with news of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But ZOOM provided the medium to deliver great news to one team member of the Recreation and Wellness Center and Wellness Health Promotion Services family earlier this week. Assistant Director of Risk Management, Sport Clubs, and Inclusive Recreation, Andrea Snead, is the 2020 recipient of the NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation Juliette Moore Distinguished Leadership Award. Since 2003 NIRSA’s Lee Wasson (wife of late NIRSA founder William Wasson) People of Color Social Planning Committee have honored NIRSA members with the award “to recognize those individuals who best exemplify the hard work and dedication that go into the continuing creation of a diverse and inclusive community” (Thomas, 2019). During the RWC/WHPS weekly leadership ZOOM call a dozen members of NIRSA, including the award’s namesake Ms. Moore, surprised Snead 15 minutes into the meeting. Last year’s Moore recipient, Lashica Thomas (Columbus State), made the announcement on the call which included Snead’s wife Laura, her colleagues, Executive Director of Recreation and Wellness, Jim Wilkening, WHPS Director Maureen Hawkins, and SDES Associate Vice President of Administration and Student Life Dr. Sharon Ekern. Snead says emotions overcame her when Thomas began to speak. She was honored so many people from NIRSA would jump on the call despite living in different states and time zones, “all of these people were so influential in my growth and development within NIRSA. I’ve been a member for ten years and there are so many people I am grateful to have connected with and build relationships with.” Ms. Moore was the first black female to become NIRSA President and told the group she is proud of Snead’s growth, “you have grown so much in this field as a woman- a black woman, that has really exemplified what I really pushed for back in the day and you are continuing that.” Moore said. She (Moore) had to go through many trials and tribulations just to lay the foundation and path for me and other women of color to walk down,” Snead says of Moore. She also credited the RWC and WHPS leadership for her growth in SDES because of their commitment to inclusion and diversity. Snead sees this award as a beginning to the legacy she hopes to carve in the campus recreation field, “I would like to be remembered for breaking down barriers for people from all walks of life, getting folks to the table and then not stopping there, but advocating for those voices to be heard.” In addition to receiving the Juliette Moore Distinguished Leadership Award, Snead also learned NIRSA has appointed her to be an annual director on the organization’s Board of Directors beginning in May. The mother of three is a past chair of NIRSA’s Emerging Recreational Sports Leaders (ERSL) Conference which focuses on growing diversity in campus recreation and is currently a team lead for UCF’s Just Knight’s Response Team (JKRT), the bias incident group on campus. Like Tweet Share < Back to News