NCAA Champion, Gold Medalist Sylvia Crawley Spann bringing motivational series to IU Northwest

Campus, community invited for day of programming, meet and greet with world-renowned athlete

Sylvia Crawley Spann, a world-renowned athlete, coach, best-selling author and public speaker, is coming to Indiana University Northwest for a day of motivational programming on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

She will be on campus for a series of presentations and meet and greets. Crawley Spann’s career is marked by achievement. She led the University of North Carolina, where her jersey hangs from the rafters, to an NCAA National Championship as team captain and Final Four MVP. Her professional legacy includes a successful 11-year career in the WNBA and ABL, where she made history as the first-ever winner of the women’s Slam Dunk Contest, securing a perfect score of 100 with a blindfolded dunk.

A coaching pioneer, Crawley Spann became the youngest Division I head coach at Ohio University, was the first African American head coach for Boston College women’s basketball and served as an assistant for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. Today, she inspires through her public speaking and has recently become an Amazon best-selling author with her book, The Confidence Playbook: Strategies for Lifelong Success.

Her programming will offer an opportunity for students, faculty, staff and the community to hear a powerful message about perseverance, leadership and goal setting from a nationally celebrated role model.

Members of the community and area schools are encouraged to attend these free events to experience Crawley Spann’s mission of inspiring and developing young hearts and minds.

Event schedule & highlights

SLAM Leadership Keynote

Crawley Spann will present her SLAM (Self-Care, Leadership, Accountability and Mindset) Program, designed to ignite leadership and personal growth using basketball as a platform.

9-11 a.m. | Wednesday, January 28
Arts & Sciences Mainstage Theater
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Being a Winning Team Workshop

Crawley-Spann will meet with students, including college athletes and coaches, encouraging personal growth and promoting leadership development.

1:30-3 p.m. | Wednesday, January 28
Savannah Center, Bergland Auditorium
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Public Meet and Greet

Crawley Spann will meet guests and the public at the Hall of Champions.
3:30-4:30 p.m. | Wednesday, January 28
Savannah Center, Athletics Hall of Champions (second floor)
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Following the meet and greet, she will be honored before the IU Northwest women’s basketball game. Those attending the meet and greet are encouraged to stay for the women’s basketball game against Calumet College of St. Joseph at 5 p.m. and the men’s basketball game against Saint Xavier at 7 p.m.

Local schools interested in attending should contact the Office of Student & Community Engagement Programming at scep@iu.edu or by calling 219-980-6596.

About IU Northwest

One of nine campuses of Indiana University, IU Northwest is located in metropolitan Northwest Indiana, approximately 30 miles southeast of Chicago and 10 miles from the Indiana Dunes National Park. The campus has a student population of approximately 3,000 degree-seeking students and more than 30,000 alumni, most of whom remain in the Northwest Indiana region, and has been recognized by the Department of Education as a minority and Hispanic serving institution. The campus offers Associate, Baccalaureate, and Master’s degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Health and Human Services, the School of Business and Economics, the School of the Arts, and the School of Education. The campus is also home to IU School of Medicine-Northwest-Gary, the region’s only four-year medical doctorate program. As a student-centered campus, IU Northwest is committed to academic excellence characterized by a love of ideas and achievement in learning, discovery, creativity, research and community engagement. Indiana University is an equal opportunity employer and provider of ADA services and prohibits discrimination in hiring .