September 7, 2017
International track star will discuss her road to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics
Ursuline College will host Olympic silver medalist and professional track and field athlete Nia Ali for an inspirational public talk titled “Learning in Strides” on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7:00 p.m. in the College’s Jane and Lee Seidman Gymnasium, 2550 Lander Road. Her talk is the fall installment in Ursuline’s semi-annual lecture series, Global Perspectives: Inspiring Tomorrow’s Women Leaders. This series features current female thought leaders who inspire the next generation of women leaders.
Ali, who specializes in the hurdles and the heptathlon, will cover topics including:
- What it means to be a role model
- How to stay disciplined in training and academics
- What it means to be part of a team
- Women in sports, and
- How athletes can meet their goals.
“We’re thrilled to have a female athlete of this caliber willing to spend time with us, educating and inspiring our student athletes,” said Ursuline College Director of Athletics Cindy McKnight. “We hope that Northeast Ohio high school athletes will take advantage of this opportunity to interact with a 2016 Olympic silver medalist.”
An engaging speaker, Ali first entered international competition in 2011 when she won a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.85 at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China. That same year, she fulfilled another important goal, graduating from the University of Southern California.
With hard work and tremendous focus, Ali continued to win national and international medals until, in 2016, she placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.55 at the United States Olympic Trials. She represented the USA at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she won the Silver Medal in the 100-meter hurdles. She helped her team make history that day, when the United States became the first country to win gold, silver, and bronze in the 100-meter hurdles. It was also the first time American women achieved a sweep in any Olympic event.
The wins keep coming for Ali. Earlier this year, she won the Silver Medal at the USA Outdoor Championships.
Her talk, “Learning in Strides,” is free and open to the public. Ursuline’s 1,000-seat Jane and Lee Seidman Gymnasium is in its Sister Diano Stano Athletic Center.
About Ursuline College
Founded in 1871, Ursuline College is an accredited, women-focused, independent college offering rigorous curricula in the liberal arts, nursing, and professional studies. At Ursuline, holistic education transforms students for service, leadership and professional excellence by providing undergraduate and graduate programs that foster lifelong learning and personal wisdom in an environment characterized by the college’s Catholic and Ursuline heritage; women-centered learning; values-based curricula; and inclusive, global perspective.
