BALTIMORE — From throwing out the first pitch at Camden Yards, to meeting and greeting students and staff at Morgan State University, Dena Freeman-Patton is making moves through campus as the first female athletic director in Morgan State's history.
"It was a dream of mine to be an athletic director. I didn't know for a while if I wanted to be in that seat, the head seat. I knew I wanted to help student athletes most of my life," Freeman-Patton said.
She knows what they need because she was once a student-athlete. She played basketball at Lake Clifton High School in Baltimore and college hoops at Liberty University in Virginia.
"I've had to balance my academics with my social life and my athletics. I've had injuries. I've had to get assistance academically from tutors. I think I've been through it all," she said.
After graduating and having a successful 25 plus year career as an administrator to an executive in intercollegiate athletics professional, Freeman-Patton had an opportunity to come home to her mom's alma mater, Morgan State in 2022.
"When I'd come home to visit, when I was working across the country, I'd come home and drive through the city and every time I'd turn around, I'd see a new building on Morgan's campus and I'd say to my mom, ok Morgan's over there doing something," Freeman-Patton said.
And Freeman-Patton wants to keep "doing things" at Morgan. They've added wrestling and acrobatics and tumbling so they now have 16 different sports programs with 400 student athletes.
"Win championships, grow our facilities, add to the experiential learning pieces for our student athletes," she said.
Like last year when the Morgan State men's basketball team went to Belgium and France for a tournament.
As the first female athletic director in the school's history, she's taking the challenges head on.
"When I was hired I had to ignore some of the comments in social media in things like that were said, can she hire a football coach? It was the first thing I had to do. I hired coach Damon Wilson and so I think that I did a pretty good job," Freeman-Patton explained.
"For me, the challenge is really just being seen as an athletic director, not just a woman athletic director. I am proud of it and proud to be a visual representation to you women and young girls," she said.
