Women student-athletes are taking their competitive spirit into the workplace.
Amber Shane |
For many years, Ferris State University’s erstwhile yearbook, the Ferriscope, documented campus life. And also for many years its Athletics section portrayed women as being mainly relegated to cheerleading or playing intramural sports. That began to change in the early 1970s. The 1974 Ferriscope, for example, took note of Sally Olsen who earned a varsity letter on the ski team. Women’s basketball, volleyball and tennis get pages in the 1975 yearbook.
Since then, women’s sports have flourished at Ferris: the women’s golf team has finished in the top-four nationally for the last four years; this year the softball team made it to the national tournament by shutting out their opponents in the regional tourney; and from 1984 to 2001, the women’s tennis team won 162 consecutive GLIAC dual matches – to name just a few highlights.
At Ferris, student-athletes – both female and male – take their drive to excel from the locker room to the classroom, achieving a higher aggregate grade point average than non-athletes. The three women profiled here are representative of many others who are succeeding in their careers thanks to their competitive spirit – and good grades.
From Love on the Court to Love of Healing
A blend of hopes, dreams and hard work has transformed former Honors student and tennis standout Amber M. Shane into Dr. Shane.
Emily Fletcher |
“I first thought I wanted to be a doctor when I was in high school, but I was unsure about having to go to school for so many years, so I started out in biotechnology,” says Shane, a 1998 Applied Biology graduate, who came to realize that years of study was a small price to pay to make her dreams a reality. “By the end of my second year I decided I wanted to go into medicine.”
During the 1997-98 academic year, the Rochester Hills, Mich., native served as a resident advisor in the Honors Program as well as captain of the women’s tennis team.
“It was an unbelievable experience and the best part of college,” Shane recalls of leading the championship-caliber Bulldog tennis team. She capped her playing career in style winning the doubles conference championship at the No. 3 flight (1997) as Ferris won its 14th straight GLIAC championship.
“Being a student-athlete helped with time management and kept me focused. Tennis was an incredibly important part of who I am and have become.”
After earning her Bachelor of Science degree at Ferris, Shane moved to Florida where she earned a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine from Barry University. Today, she takes
pride in staying up-to-date on medical advancements in order to give her patients the best possible care. She has specialty training in trauma and deformity reconstruction of the foot, ankle and lower leg, ankle arthroscopy, adult and pediatric flat-foot reconstruction and non-invasive heel pain techniques. That specialty training is the result of the hard work Shane has invested during the last 10 years.
“Where I am today has included four years of specialized med school, three-plus years of residency and fellowships, seven board exams and lots of moving,” says Shane,
who practices in Orlando and is involved in a number of local and national organizations related to podiatry. “It also has included balancing education and work with play, friends, family and relationships, and having to live in separate states from my husband (foot and ankle surgeon Dr. Christopher Reeves) which has been very challenging. However, I enjoy making people feel better when they are in pain. I enjoy hearing phrases like ‘you saved my leg’ … as one special patient tells me all the time.”
In comments she wrote for the Honors Program about her career, Shane explicitly ties her success in medicine to her time on the court.
“Ever since I can remember I have been dedicated to excellence. Dedication and drive allowed me to excel in my education. That same dedication and drive was at the heart of my tennis game at Ferris.”
Linking Competition to Career
Professional Golf Management graduate Emily Fletcher looks back and fondly recalls how the foundation for her success started in the mid-1980s at Ferris.
“At the time, Ferris State was the only school in the country offering the Professional Golf Management curriculum,” Fletcher notes. “I wanted to pursue my Business degree, and I was very excited about the internship opportunities offered in PGM. In hindsight, those internships proved to be a launching pad for my future career in the golf business. I was able to secure my first job out of school at Desert Highlands Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., after doing an internship there first.”
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Tianna Kirkland |
As the location of Fletcher’s first job highlights, Ferris’ groundbreaking PGM program offered its graduates a degree with a national perspective.
“One of the more positive aspects of the PGM program is that you have contacts in the golf business all over the country,” Fletcher says. “I always thought of the PGM program as a sort of fraternity/sorority that connects me with all PGM graduates.”
As a member of the women’s golf team from 1983-85, Fletcher shot an average 82.23 strokes per round to place her 11th on Ferris’ all-time career scoring list. Now, as the newly appointed head women’s golf coach at Northwestern University, Fletcher is reaping the benefits of both her competitive and PGM experience.
“My appointment at Northwestern University as women’s golf coach is a privilege and honor,” says Fletcher, who has lived and worked in the Evanston area for more than 20 years. “I look forward to taking our golf program to the same level that our other sports have achieved – that means Big Ten Conference championships and competing for a national championship.”
Fletcher’s bio on the Wildcats Web site notes that under Fletcher’s mentorship as primary swing instructor, professional golfer Jenny Lidback won the DuMaurier Classic – one of the LPGA Tour’s major championships. She also served as assistant tournament director for the Wachovia Betsy King Classic from 1996 through 2004. Her resumé, combined with her competitive and academic experience at Ferris, makes her uniquely qualified to be just the second women’s head golf coach in NU history.
Courting Success
Flint native Tianna Kirkland is traveling the fast lane to success in the competitive world of women’s college basketball. Kirkland has managed to amass six years of college coaching experience before reaching her 30th birthday.
A 2002 graduate in Applied Biology (like Dr. Shane), Kirkland has earned her way onto the coaching staff of the women’s basketball program at the University of Michigan.
A two-sport standout for the Bulldogs, Kirkland excelled at track and field, but also was a star on the hardwood for the women’s basketball program. The 6-foot-1 post player became the first All-American in the history of the women’s basketball program (2000-01). Kirkland proved to be an all-around All-American as she also ended her career as a three-time All-American in track and field (discus and shot put) for the Bulldogs.
“It was such a great part of my life when I look back on the time that I spent at Ferris and how I grew up and learned so many things while I was there,” says Kirkland, who previously gained experience as a graduate assistant coach at Central Michigan University; an assistant coach at Butler University; and an assistant at Eastern Michigan University.
Ferris retired Kirkland’s basketball jersey last fall in recognition of her achievements.
“Ferris has given me so much,” says Kirkland. “I’ll never forget the time I spent there and how the people at Ferris got me started in my career.”
