Assistant Professor Damian Williams is helping School of Business students get industry experience on and off campus
Damian Williams has spent more than 20 years working in sport tourism, coaching, facility management and consulting, among other disciplines. He’s brought large events, including IRONMAN, into the region. He’s worked with sport apparel companies, as well as professional, collegiate and youth sports. It’s safe to say Williams knows the sport industry well. Hired as an assistant professor of sport management in August 2022, he is now using that experience to improve the educational opportunities of Linfield students.
“It was not only his significant sports industry and coaching career, but also his commitment to bring his talent, tenacity, skills, contacts and lived and work experience to benefit Linfield students,” explained Jennifer Madden, dean of Linfield’s School of Business. “It was that next-level commitment and robust drive to create opportunity for Linfield students that made it clear to me I needed to hire Damian Williams.”
One of his first charges was to improve the undergraduate internship program in the School of Business.
“Sports teams and corporations want to hire students with industry experience, so that’s what we’re going to give them,” he said.
By rebranding the already successful internship program as “industry experience,” Williams has made the pathway from college to a job more obvious for recruiters, and at the same time, has helped students better understand how to describe the skills and experiences they gained during their internships.
But Williams has no intention to stop there when it comes to job-related experiences. He has also worked with the Linfield Athletic Department to build and operate a replica sports team front office.
The Front Office resembles a professional sports team front office, with a general manager and directors for community relations, sponsorship and fan engagement, analytics, marketing, communications and social media.”
– Damian Williams, assistant professor of sport management
“Although it is run out of the School of Business, the work is being done directly on the campus and in the community,” he said.
In their roles, students develop marketing plans, run game-day operations and use data to track athletes’ success. The experience also focuses on daily business operations, including interviewing, running a search committee and more.
“The Front Office idea came from talking with students about their experiences trying to get internships and jobs,” Williams said. “Everyone was telling them they did not have experience. So I said ‘let’s create those experiences here on campus.’”
The Front Office opened its doors in February 2023.
“I know what experience organizations are looking for,” he said. “I’m excited to help our students get prepared for a career in sports.”
