BALTIMORE, Md. (Aug. 30, 2023) — Morgan State Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dena Freeman-Patton will be among a group of HBCU women administrators from around the country highlighted during special ceremonial coin tosses before selected matches at the US Open Tennis Tournament at Flushing Meadows, NY on Wednesday, August 30th.
During the ceremonies, which will be sponsored by HBCU Live, Freeman-Patton will join the other HBCU female athletics directors at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Campbell's participation in the coin tosses will occur prior to Match Two (2) during Arthur Ashe Stadium Day.
Other HBCU administrators chosen to participate are Melody Webb (Norfolk State), Keisha Campbell (South Carolina State), Tiffani-Dawn Sykes (Florida A&M), Alecia Shields-Gadson (Delaware State) and Tara A. Owens (Maryland Eastern Shore).
The coin toss by Freeman-Patton is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. during Match 3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
On May 3, 2022, Morgan State University President David K. Wilson announced the appointment of Freeman-Patton as vice president and director for intercollegiate athletics, overseeing the Athletics Department and Intramural sports and activities. With her selection, Freeman-Patton became the first woman in Morgan's 155-year history hired to lead its athletic operations.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Freeman-Patton was a three-sport athlete at Lake Clifton High. She also lettered as a Division I student-athlete in basketball at Liberty University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in sports management in 1996. She later received a master's in sports administration from Georgia State University, in 1999.
As an administrator and executive in intercollegiate athletics, Freeman-Patton has nearly 25 years of experience. Prior to Morgan, she worked at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), where she served as associate vice president and director of Athletics, overseeing 10 sports, and managing more than 50 personnel, including staff and coaches. Before her time at CSUDH, she served as deputy athletics director and chief operating officer for the University of New Orleans, deputy athletics director at California State University, Bakersfield, associate athletic director at Georgia State University and associate director of Academics and Career Development at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Freeman-Patton was also appointed as the 2020 chair of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and in 2018 was named as the Women Leader in College Sports Administrator of the Year.
For more information on how you can watch live stream visit https://hbcugo.tv/
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Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.
