A life in academia as a full professor—including being elected president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)—wasn’t exactly the life that Dr. Joy Gaston Gayles had considered for herself when she arrived at Shaw University as a first-generation college student some three decades ago.
A product of a working-class family who hailed from Prince George’s County, Maryland, Gayles was recruited to play softball at the historically Black university in Raleigh, N.C. 
Dr. Joy Gaston Gayles
“If it wasn’t for sports, I wouldn’t have went to college because my parents couldn’t afford to send me,” said Gayles, who credits her softball coach during her time at Shaw with encouraging her to go on to graduate school.
A hardworking student who majored in Adapted Physical Education and Kinesiotherapy, Gayles initially had her sights on a career in professional sports, with the goal of one day becoming an athletic trainer for the NFL or the NBA.
But when she was offered an NCAA scholarship, she used the scholarship to enroll in a master’s program in higher education at Auburn University, where she readied herself for a career in athletic administration.
“My goal was, ‘you go to school, you get your education and you go get a job.’” she said, adding that the research bug bit her hard during her time at Auburn and she had additional questions that needed answers.
She enrolled in a doctoral program at The Ohio State University, where she researched and wrote a dissertation on student athletes’ motivation toward sports and academics.
