Tennis Great Earns IU East Degree
Professional tennis player Venus Williams has earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Indiana University East in Richmond. Williams has been an online student at IU East since 2011.
She visited campus August 14 when she was traveling to Mason, Ohio for the Western Southern Open.
“One of the main reasons that I chose IU East was because I felt so at home. It was like family, like it was my school, and I was so excited. It’s been an incredible journey. I’ve learned so much. It was always my dream to have a business degree and I ended up going to art school so many times, but in the back of my head I felt like I needed the tools to be a better leader, to be a better planner, to be better at all of the things I wanted to do in my businesses because I’m so hands-on,” Williams said.
School officials say Williams is the first to graduate under an agreement between IU East and the Women’s Tennis Association. The school says 15 of the WTA’s players are enrolled in IU East online degree completion programs.
In 2007, Williams earned her associate degree in fashion design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.