Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

The Opportunity Bowl is held in memory of Dr. Sheila Pressley.

Pressley, who passed away in January of 2020, was the dean of the College of Health Sciences at Eastern Kentucky University.  She attended Western Carolina University for her undergraduate education, graduating in 1989.
 
The name for the bowl game was a natural fit as EKU is known as a school of opportunity, a point of pride for Pressley.  Access plus affordability equals opportunity at Eastern Kentucky University for students from diverse backgrounds and EKU is committed to making sure all students have access to a quality education, and strives to nurture their abilities and help them meet the challenges they face when returning to their communities to live and work after completing their degrees.  The Opportunity Bowl provides a platform to highlight opportunity-focused initiatives at EKU made possible through strategic partnerships. 
 
These initiatives include the Eastern Scholar House for single parents with children, the early Childhood Development Center, the EKU Veterans Education and Transition Support Center which delivers supportive services for veterans, the Workforce Pathway at Kit Carson Commons which is currently under construction, and the Colonel Commitment Scholarship Model.
 
Before joining the faculty at EKU in 2004, Pressley participated in conservation efforts in Zimbabwe, spent a year with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office and served with several nonprofit agencies.  As an EKU faculty member, she became the first African American to chair the EKU Faculty Senate (2012-14).  Pressley also served as the university Faculty Athletics Representative, co-chair of the New Faculty Orientation Committee, and a member of the Presidential Search Committee (2012-13), Strategic Planning Steering Committee, NCAA EKU Athletics Certification Committee and the Diversity Planning Council.  She was also part of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority on campus. 
 
Pressley earned graduate degrees from Tufts University and the University of Kentucky.  UK awarded her the Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence Award, which honors outstanding African American alumni.