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Cultivating Curiosity As A Leader With Santa Clara’s Renee Baumgartner

Guest Renee Baumgartner, Santa Clara
14:33 min watch

Summary

Santa Clara Director of Athletics Renee Baumgartner joins ADU’s Tai M. Brown at the 2023 NACDA Convention to discuss the importance of cultivating curiosity as a leader. Baumgartner dives into her work on various NCAA Committees, including the impact of serving on the Competition Oversight Committee. Baumgartner also advocates for implementing outside-the-box thinking to ultimately serve the best interest of student-athletes and the entire industry, sharing the story behind the inspiration for Santa Clara’s $38M, 50K-sq. ft. Stephen C. and Patricia A. Schott Athletic Excellence Center. Baumgartner: “If you have that, people working together… you can accomplish dreams and goals beyond your wildest imagination.”

The conversation is indexed below for efficient viewing (click the time stamp to jump to a specific question/topic).

  • - You've served on a number of councils and committees throughout your administrative career. Are there any that had a big impact on you? Are there any that you felt you made a significant impact on?
  • - What makes the Competition Oversight Committee the most impactful for you?
  • - Tell us about the curiosity aspect of serving on these influential committees.
  • - Have you ever been in a situation where there was consensus on an idea before the primary decision-maker entered the room, but when they do, you're the only one actually bringing up the new idea?
  • - How has curiosity manifested itself throughout your time at Santa Clara and even earlier in your career, before you got to that position?
  • - How did you sway everyone [at the University of Oregon while you were the Executive Senior Associate AD/Senior Woman Administrator] to the decision to add Women's Lacrosse as a sport?
  • - What role has mentorship played in your career?
  • - What aspects of organizational culture do you see now that you wrote about in your dissertation that has come to fruition?