With more than a dozen intercollegiate sports teams and a strong roster of around 400 student athletes, The University of Memphis seizes every opportunity to build city champions, on and off the field. While student athletes showcase discipline, organization, and collaboration, there hasn’t always been a clear pathway for them to transition into a career post-graduation. Until now — enter: 901Women.
The 901Women initiative was established to honor 50 years of competitive and academic excellence within The University’s women’s sports programs since the passage of Title IX in 1972. This initiative aims to inspire and generate philanthropic support for the enhancement of athletic, academic, and personal experiences for current and future female student-athletes at the University of Memphis.
Dr. Ed Scott, Senior Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, explains that the University is continuing its steadfast approach to empowering all Tiger student-athletes, and this dedicated initiative allows for additional resources.
The ultimate goal? Both the athletics department and 901Women view success as developing talented future professionals with transferable skills through sport. By equipping student athletes with professional development resources, mentors, and connections to career opportunities in Memphis, the 901Women program is creating success stories and future Memphians.
“We have to continue to pour in resources into women's athletics. There's no two ways about it. You're seeing sports on the rise like volleyball, women's basketball across the country. And I want Memphis to be in that conversation. That's really important.”
The 901Women initiative also helps women’s head coaches and administrators identify the greatest areas of need for Memphis’ female student-athletes on an annual basis. This includes, but is not limited to: scholarship support, facility projects, and personal and professional enrichment.
One such example of the facility support becoming a reality is the Liza Wellford Fletcher Stadium at the University of Memphis, a state-of-the-art facility for the women’s and men’s soccer and track and field teams. Other recent milestones include: Women’s Soccer finishing 1st in the AAC Standings (making history by winning their third consecutive American Athletic Conference (AAC) regular-season championship), Memphis Pom being 16x national champions, and the Women’s 4×400-meter relay team broke the program record at the Tom Jones Memorial in April 2025.
Want to know more? Listen to this 37-minute Meanwhile in Memphis conversation with Dr. Ed Scott (The University of Memphis) and Beth Wilson (901Women) to hear how The University of Memphis and 901Women are developing talented professionals with transferable skills through sport.
Hear from real leaders making a real impact in Memphis each week on the Meanwhile in Memphis podcast, airing on Tuesdays at 8 am on WYXR 91.7 FM and streaming wherever you prefer to listen podcasts.
Great cities need great leaders, and New Memphis builds them. New Memphis is a leadership development organization that infuses Memphis with leaders who are passionate about positive community change and have the skills needed to take action. New Memphis’ leadership development programs inspire thought, connection, and action, helping participants find meaningful ways to use their talents and networks to be effective city advocates at any point in their careers — from the college classroom to the C-Suite executive.
