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Stephanie Ellison-Johnson - - Clemson University Athletics

Stephanie Ellison-Johnson

Position: Executive Senior Associate AD / Sports Administration / SWA

Stephanie Ellison-Johnson is in her fifth year as the Executive Senior Associate AD for Sport Administration and the Senior Woman Administrator at Clemson. In her present role, she oversees the daily operations for 12 of Clemson’s sports, serving as a direct supervisor, manages the athletic department Title IX compliance, and is presently serving in an interim role leading the Compliance Services department.

Overall, she’s served in a full-time capacity within Clemson athletics since 2003, including as the Director of Compliance Services for 11 years from 2006-17.

She’s been intimately involved in the evaluation and hiring of several of the department’s head coaches, including Amanda Butler (Women’s Basketball), Robbie Weiss (Men’s Tennis), Jackie Simpson Kirr (Volleyball) and John Rittman (Softball) – and, more recently Allison Kwolek (Lacrosse) and Amy Smith (Gymnastics). Butler took the women’s basketball program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. Ellison-Johnson oversees Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Rowing, and Women’s Basketball. She has held a large influence in the addition of the two newest sports at Clemson – Gymnastics and Lacrosse – including the selection of the sports, and their support and ramp-up.

She was a key contributor to the building of the Duckworth Family Tennis Complex, which opened in the Fall of 2018.

Much her career has been dedicated to student-athlete welfare, gender equity, as well as serving on several committees and designing initiatives intended to promote a culture of diversity and inclusion. She also served as Chair of the ACC SWA Committee and represents Clemson at many of the legislation discussions.

The native of Pendleton, SC returned to Clemson in October 2003 after serving as the director of legislative services and assistant to the commissioner at the Southern Conference. While at the Southern Conference, Ellison was responsible for tracking NCAA legislative proposals, and served as the staff liaison to various conference associations and sports committees, including the conference Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), the Executive Committee, the Finance and Audit Committee, and the volleyball and men’s and women’s track & field committees.

Prior to her time with the Southern Conference, Ellison served as the director of compliance and the assistant compliance officer at George Mason University.

Ellison began her career in compliance services at Clemson, where she was a graduate assistant from August 1999 to May 2001. Her responsibilities included collecting and reporting student-athlete data, as well as administering NCAA and ACC forms to enrolled student-athletes. Ellison also provided interpretations of NCAA legislation and served as a liaison to the NCAA Clearinghouse. She also served on the SACS/COC Assessment Committee. Ellison developed forms used in monitoring activities and assisted in coordinating NCAA’s athletics certification orientation visit. As an undergraduate, she worked as a student assistant with the football office.

A May 1998 graduate of Clemson with a degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Ellison also completed a master’s degree in Human Resource Development at Clemson in May 2001. The 1994 Pendleton High School Honor Graduate is also a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Stephanie is married to Ferrante Johnson and the couple has two children; a daughter, Hayden and a son, Harper.

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