AMERICUS — Dr. Shirley Green-Reese has traveled all over the world and met thousands of people during her career. From Bobby Bowden to Dan Reeves, Reese has established connections all over the country with well known and highly influential people. Through all of her travels and professional achievements, Reese recognizes one major piece of legislation that made all of her success possible, the Title IX Act of 1972.

The Title IX Act was designed to eliminate any discrimination based on sex in any programs that receive federal funding. One of the main goals of Title IX was to correct the amount of emphasis placed on men’s sports as opposed to women’s sports. Women’s sports historically lacked the facilities, supplies, support and funding that men’s sports had been receiving for years. With the passage of Title IX, women’s and men’s programs were required to receive the same amount of access to things such as equipment, medical treatment, locker rooms, facilities, coaches, and practice time among other things. Title IX has increased women’s involvement in sports, academics, and administration, with Reese being one of the driving forces in the state of Georgia and the United States.

Upon graduating from Sumter County High school, Reese moved east to attend Savannah State University, where she first built interest in health and physical education. Reese graduated from Savannah State in 1970 and was awarded a bachelors of science degree.

Reese then moved back home where she took her first job teaching health and physical education. Reese began her career at Reese Park Middle School in Americus, and it did not take long for her to realize that she had definitely made the right decision to pursue health and physical education.

Reese then decided to move north to Newport News, Virgina, where she was offered a job by Carver Middle School. At Carver, Reese served as a Chairperson of health and physical education.

Two years later Reese obtained her first high school teaching job at Ferguson High School, also in Newport News, Virginia. Reese also served as a chairperson and an instructor in the department of health and physical education at Ferguson High, furthering her career in the field.

After two years at Ferguson, Reese decided that it was time to further her education, so she moved back home to Georgia and enrolled at Georgia State University. Reese stayed in Atlanta from September 1977 to August 1978 when she graduated with a master of science degree.

“When I was working on my masters degree I decided to move towards working at a University,” said Reese. “When I graduated from Georgia State I landed my first university job at Albany State,” she added.

Reese’s journey at Albany State University began in September 1978, a mere month after receiving her masters degree from Georgia State. In her first three years at Albany State Reese worked as a professor in the department of health and physical education. Reese was also appointed to lead the varsity cheerleading team, a moment that Reese says opened her eyes to a new aspect of her profession. “Leading the varsity cheerleading squad was really exciting because that was my first experience that involved getting into athletics,” she said.

In September of 1981 Reese was promoted to administrative assistant in the department of health and physical education. Reese also served as an administrative assistant for institutional advancement from 1978 to 1983 at Albany State.

As the years passed as a cheerleading coach and an instructor, Reese got encouragement to go even further in her career, so she did just that. In September 1983 she moved to Tallahassee, Fl. where she enrolled in the doctoral program at Florida State University. While at Florida State Reese worked an internship under football coach Bobby Bowden. Reese was a full time student and she graduated from Florida State’s three-year doctoral program in two years. “I got that degree in two years because I was hungry,” said Reese. After two years of hard work and dedication, Reese was awarded a doctor of philosophy degree in administration, supervision, and professional preparation in December of 1985.

Reese then found a job as a professor in the division of health, physical education, and recreation at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Ky. Reese would go on to have several prominent achievements in her two years at Kentucky State, including being named chairperson for the health and physical education department, named to the re-accredidation committee, and bringing in prominent guest speakers such as former Denver Broncos coach Dan Reeves and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

Reese then went to Morris Brown College as a professor and chairperson of their department of health and physical education. While at Morris Brown, she received a call from the president of Albany State University, offering her a job as a professor. Resse took the job and also worked as an assistant athletic director until she was informed by the president that she had been chosen to replace the athletic director, making her the first female athletic administrator in the state of Georgia.

After making history Reese served as the athletic administrator until 1998, and had numerous huge accomplishments during that time. In 1991 she researched, developed, and facilitated a first-time new Board of Regents approved bachelor of science degree recreation and specialist program for the department health and physical education, which is still offered today. Reese was also the first female in the state of Georgia to serve on the NCAA Management Council. One of Reese’s most important tasks, however, was managing and supervising more than a $150,000 yearly budget for the Albany State University’s NCAA/NYSP as the project administrator.

Reese was a member of five championships as an assistant athletic director and athletic director at Albany State. She was also a member of the faculty senate and received the first approved NCAA alcohol-choice prevention grants for student athletes in Georgia. Reese travelled all over the world during her time on her numerous NCAA commitees attending conferences and helping make some of the most important decisions in college sports, all while teaching and running the athletic department at Albany State.

Reese then left Albany and moved to Atlanta where she spent four years as the special projects coordinator in the office of the vice president of student affairs at Georgia State. In 2008 Reese then moved back to Savannah State where she worked as the vice president for university advancement and director of development. At Savannah State, Reese Initiated three endowments totaling over $300,000 in eight months, in addition to soliciting a significant amount of funds for scholarships from alumni, faculty, staff, businesses and the community-at-large. Reese left Savannah State in January 2009, and is currently working as an academic and administrative independent scholar. Reese has organized many homecomings and fundraisers that have been extremely beneficial to the organizations they were representing.

Reese is extremely proud of her professional career and all of the accomplishments that she has achieved. She knows, however, that one of the most important tools in her success was the passage of the Title IX law. “Title IX was one of the greatest achievements of the women’s movement,” she said. “There is no way that I would  have what I have now without it.”

Reese’s brother, Dr. Gregory Green, is a professor and chairman of the health and physical education department at Fort Valley State University, and he echoed his sister’s views on Title IX. “Title IX gave Shirley the opportunity to become the first female athletic director in the state. Because of what she did it opened the way for other females to seek those positions as well,” said Green. “Before Title IX there was a perception that these jobs were just for men, and that is not right,” he added.

Still, Reese and Green know that Title IX has some more work to do to be totally efficient. “Title IX really has come a very long way in helping women get where they are now, but there is still work to be done as some schools still violate Title IX. They have to realize that they can lose accreditation and funding if they do not abide by Title IX,” said Green.

“Women up north have a much easier time getting jobs than women in the south. We still have some obstacles to overcome, but it has been a great accomplishment,” Reese said. “Title IX affects jobs, employment, and discrimination. It covers a lot more than just sports,” she added.

Title IX has made some major improvements, but like many laws it is far from perfect. Still, it has provided countless opportunities for people like Dr. Reese that they probably would not have had before the law was passed. Title IX allowed Reese to put her name in the history books forever, and make a huge impact on thousands of people across the country.