Former Illinois College volleyball player and IC Sports Hall of Fame inductee Joana Ramsey ’98 has built a

career as a professor and coach over the last two decades. Now, she’s back on the Hilltop in a new role as a member of the business faculty.

“I feel good. It’s a little different being back just because of COVID-19 and some restrictions that we have,” said Ramsey.

She admits it can be a little bit surreal when she walks through Bruner Fitness and Recreation Center on her way to class and sees photos of herself and her friends on the wall. Ramsey was first inducted into the hall of fame in 2012 with the entire 1993 women’s volleyball team. The team was the first in IC history — in any sport — to go to an NCAA tournament. She was later inducted as an individual in 2018.

As a four-year starting setter, she won numerous conference and regional accolades during her time as a student-athlete, and is ranked second in assists and fourth in aces in the College’s record books.

“Being a student-athlete created friendships and bonds between people that I still talk to today, and that I definitely miss. And it was something that gave me structure. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do,” she said. “I definitely

needed that structure that athletics gives you, and the opportunity to grow as an individual.”

In addition to the 1993 team’s national tournament appearance, IC Women’s Volleyball won three conference titles during Ramsey’s college career.

“That was an exciting time on our campus,” she said, recalling the support they had and the charter buses of fans who went to the national tournament. With good leadership and good players focused on improving, she said they made great memories, worked hard and were a force as a team.

When the team was inducted into the hall of fame and when she was inducted as an individual, it was exciting but also caused her to look back.

“I looked at that era of volleyball and how many games we won, how many conference tournaments, and quite honestly I didn’t even realize it. When you’re in it, you just don’t realize it. You just focus on winning and being successful,” she said.

After graduating, Ramsey went on to coach and teach at Parkland College, leading a nationally ranked team in 2001. She continued coaching and teaching at MacMurray College before becoming a full-time faculty member at Benedictine University in Springfield. She eventually made her way back to Jacksonville and MacMurray as a faculty member, but also filled in to lead the volleyball program in its final season.

Ramsey joined the IC faculty recently, following the approval of the sports management major within the business department. The sports management major prepares students for a wide range of careers with knowledge in areas like league structures, media contracts, roles of agents, collective bargaining agreements and revenue sharing. Seniors in the program complete semester-long research projects, often working with professional sports organizations and real organization data. As an associate professor of business, Ramsey is teaching both sports management and business courses this semester.

“I’m happy to be on the forefront of something new,” she said. “I know that sports management was a concentration area and now that it’s a full major, I’m excited to be a part of that and the growth that we can have.”

In November, Ramsey was named the best college professor in the area in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier’s 2020 Reader’s Choice Award.