Smith College Athletics

Jess Duff has been the Associate Director of Athletics at Smith College since 2021. She oversees Compliance, and is involved in strategic decision-making for the department, inclusion efforts and event management. In 2021, Duff was the recipient of the NCAA Division III LGBTQ Administrator of the Year. 

Prior to Smith, Duff served as Assistant Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Services & Internal Operations at Bates College. She was a member of the senior administration team and helped to provide strategic leadership and vision in the oversight of community engagement initiatives, social justice, student-athlete conduct and leadership development. Duff was instrumental in the creation of the Bates Athletics Agents of Change, a group committed to ensuring an equitable athletics experience for all student-athlete, coaches and staff.

Duff spent two years as Special Assistant to the Athletics Director and Department Head at MIT. During her time in Cambridge, she provided administrative support, facilitated and coordinated special projects and strategies in the areas of external communications, development and fundraising, and student-athlete development. She also served as co-director for the Student-Athlete Leadership Program. In 2018 she was co-recipient of the Division of Student Life Infinite Mile Award of Building Community: Inclusion and Diversity Award.

After serving as a postgraduate intern for Division III Governance from 2015-16, Duff worked at the NCAA in Indianapolis as assistant coordinator of the Office of Inclusion from 2016-17. In that time, she established and maintained inclusive cultures through leadership, advocacy and education that supports student-athletes, coaches and administrators from diverse backgrounds, assisted with the support of association-wide committees, and collaborated with staff in providing resources to the membership. 

Duff is currently an advisory board member for Return on Inclusion and a member of the Common Ground leadership team. She has attended the NCAA Leadership Academy Workshop, NCAA Convention and Inclusion Forum and is a graduate of the Women Leaders in College Sports Institute of Administrative Advancement. 

She was a varsity basketball and volleyball student-athlete at Wellesley College earning her bachelor's degree in women's studies. She went on to earn a master's degree in education from Tufts where she worked as a women's basketball graduate assistant from 2009-2012.