Footwork Hits Its Stride this Spring at Oxford College
Presented by Emory Libraries, the Michael C. Carlos Museum, and Emory Center for Digital Scholarship, Footwork covers the full pitch of soccer, culture, and identity. Beginning in February, Oxford College of Emory University will host several events, programs, exhibitions, and experiences to coincide with Atlanta’s preparation as a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Everyone is invited to participate in several months of exciting and engaging opportunities designed to celebrate the city and Emory University’s rich soccer history.
Footwork Showcases the Intersection of Soccer, Culture, and Identity
More than an exhibition, Footwork is a celebration of sport, style, and scholarship, clothed in the spirit of a city preparing to welcome the world. Both Emory University and Oxford College are joining forces with artists, community partners, athletes, and others to curate an exhibition that highlights Atlanta’s interconnected stories of soccer, civil rights, and globalism from the 1960s to today, illustrating soccer’s power to unite.
Many people aren’t aware that Atlanta’s professional soccer roots date back over 60 years. Exploring the history of the game through the dynamic lens of Footwork will not only help foster student growth and create meaningful community connections and partnerships but also introduce new residents, visitors, and fans to the worldwide impact and joy of soccer.
February 2026 Footwork Events at Oxford Campus
Dr. Bridgette Gunnels, Associate Dean and Director of the Center for Pathways and Purpose at Oxford College of Emory University, has been instrumental in coordinating the Impact Lab World Cup Speaker Series portion of Footwork as well as associated internship opportunities.
Launched in Spring 2024, The Center for Pathways and Purpose (CPP) provides immersive experiences that prepare Oxford students for their next steps at Emory and beyond. The CPP offers a range of opportunities for personal growth by uniting experiential learning, community engagement, access to deep faculty mentoring through internships or guided research, and global learning and career and professional development.
"Developing the Impact Lab World Cup Speaker Series, particularly for student athletes, was attractive to me because career talk for athletes often arrives late in the game. Student athletes are deeply focused on respecting their practice schedules and seasons, and sometimes thinking about who they are outside of the sport, and their performance comes second.”
- Impact Lab World Cup Speaker Series | Oxford Campus | Candler Hall | Feb. 18 at 6 pm
Kellyn Gerenstein, an active scouting agent for the Buffalo Bills, will dive deep into finding your path as a student athlete after college. A proud 2023 graduate of The Ohio State University (OSU) with a bachelor’s degree in the sport industry, Gerensteinhas created a young career in football scouting and player personnel. With a passion for roster construction and player evaluation, he began his professional journey with the OSU football team in 2022, helping identify high school prospects and contributing to their recruitment. Upon graduating, he was hired as the assistant director of recruiting at Boston College in August of 2023, charged with building the recruiting boards for defensive coaches targeting top high school prospects.
- Impact Lab World Cup Speaker Series | Oxford Campus | Candler Hall | Feb. 23 at 6 pm
Sports industry trailblazer Sara Toussaint brings over 20 years of experience across Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, and the Mexican National Team. Her leadership in sponsorships and partnership marketing has been widely recognized, earning her a spot on Latinos in Sports’ inaugural list in 2020. Co-owner of the National Women’s Soccer League’s North Carolina Courage, Toussaint is also a partner at Underdog Venture Team, a social impact enterprise that offers marketing services to the sports and entertainment industries and invests in underrepresented founders. Co-CEO of TMJ, a Hispanic-owned athlete management agency representing global soccer talent, including World Cup Champion Jenni Hermoso, Toussaint was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Chicago’s La Villita neighborhood. She earned her master’s in business administration from New York University and a bachelor’s in public policy from the University of Chicago. She’s a founding board member of Latinx in Sports, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing Latinx representation and influence in the sports industry on and off the field.
March 2026 Footwork Events at Oxford Campus
Footwork really kicks off in March, when the Oxford Library opens its special Footwork Firsts exhibit, which will remain in place throughout the summer. An exciting panel discussion, moderated by Kerry Bowden, Oxford College Library Archivist, will coincide with the exhibit’s launch.
Regarding the “archival imaginary” central theme of the Footwork Kickoff Panel discussion, Bowden said, “We ask people to imagine what records there might be if we had taken the time to collect them and create them. What would people want to be there? What is it safe to assume? And what could be possible as far as getting to know more about the experiences of both individuals and of everybody who was here at that time?”
In 1968, Anthony Gibson, John Hammonds, and Angela Jinks (now Ann Slaughter) became the first Black students to be admitted to Oxford College. All three students graduated in 1970. In 2025, two second-year student interns, Dylan Singer 25Ox and Claudia Fodor 26Ox, spent the fall semester conducting archival research for FootworkFirsts. The exhibit focuses on the history of men's and women's soccer programs at Oxford College. A central part of the exhibit highlights Gibson, who desegregated the college's athletics program by joining the soccer team in 1968.
“I’ve uncovered a lot about the program’s overall development, but I’m eager to learn more about the individuals who built it in the early years — their motivations, experiences, and decisions. Oral accounts and personal stories would add depth to the timeline and help fill archival gaps. As a current Oxford soccer player, I hope to combine archival research with a firsthand perspective to enrich the story!” Claudia Fodor 26Ox
“Working on Footwork helped me see how archival research can surface stories that might otherwise be lost. I've learned the value of preserving the history around me and seeing it come to life once again,”
"The Footwork Kickoff Panel will really be what gets everybody engaged, both with artwork exhibited in the library and around campus and also with opportunities for continuing to ask these questions and get involved in this research about the history of athletics here at Oxford and its connection to the community and the wider world,” said Bowden, adding that she hopes it will also encourage attendees to think about historical gaps and underrepresented narratives.
A series of photographs of Oxford soccer athletes exemplifying strength, speed, and agility will be on display in conjunction with the unveiling of the Footwork Firsts exhibit. Photography will be available throughout the library and on campus throughout thesummer.
Dr. Tasha Dobbin-Bennett is Chair of the Humanities Division and Associate Professor of Art History. She conceived the campus-wide series of photography of student soccer athletes as a visual response to Oxford’s soccer history, particularly the many institutional and cultural “firsts” that have shaped the program, including the establishment of the women’s soccer team.
Footwork Fest, featuring athletes, speakers, fashion, and plenty of sneakers, begins two days later. Participants will have an opportunity to hear a speaker and attend a workshop.
"We have invited a student-run organization, Eternal Magazine, to host a fashion show aligned with the broader Footwork theme, particularly at the intersection of sport, soccer, and streetwear," says Amanda Yu-Nguyen, Director of the Center for Healthful Living, adding that other Footwork Fest event elements are still being coordinated with an intention to complement Bethany Atkinson's Footwork Fest conversation around apparel, design, and sales.
- Footwork Firsts Exhibition | Second Floor Gallery in Oxford Library | Mar. 18 - July 31
The Footwork Firsts exhibit will spotlight the college’s pioneering moments in both Oxford’s soccer program and diversity, including the stories of Oxford’s first African American athletes and the early women’s soccer program. Curated by Oxford College archivist Kerry Bowden and student curators Dylan Singer and Claudia Fodor. The Oxford library will also exhibit soccer-related student photography curated by Tasha Dobbin-Bennett, associate professor of art history.
- Footwork Kickoff Panel | Oxford Student Center | Featuring a Panel Discussion Moderated by Kerry Bowden | March 18, time TBD
More info about the speakers for the Footwork Kickoff Panel is coming soon.
- Footwork Fest Workshop with Kicks & Fros| Oxford Student Center | Mar. 20
Melissa Carnegie, founder of Kicks & Fros, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based lifestyle brand empowering Black and Brown women in the sneaker community, will be on hand to shine a light on how soccer and other athletic wear influence streetwear and culture. Additional details coming soon for this unique workshop and student engagement event.
- Impact Lab World Cup Speaker Series | Oxford Campus | Footwork Fest | Mar. 20
Bethany Atkinson, sales director at adidasand a former college athlete at the University of Kentucky, will guide us through her career post-D1 college tennis, including earning her MBA from Georgia Tech and her love for all things sports. An avid sneakerhead, Bethany leads apparel at adidas and will join a panel of Oxford students to talk careers, as well as narrate her own contributions to Oxford’s Footwork Fest.
- Impact Lab World Cup Speaker Series | Oxford Campus | Candler Hall | Mar. 30 at 1 pm
Join us to hear from Peter Acker, a former Oxford graduate, turned lawyer, turned CEO of Atlanta Keepers Academy. Peter’s story highlights the twists and turns typical of many careers after college and centers on patience, resilience, and a deep love of soccer.
April 2026 Footwork Events at Oxford Campus
In addition to April events, which will be announced soon, campus visitors can continue to enjoy the Footwork photography exhibition. The images focus intentionally on feet and ankles in motion, emphasizing strength, momentum, and physical resolve rather than individual identity.
“By isolating the body in action, the photographs honor the power and resilience of athletes whose participation often required perseverance in the face of social and structural barriers. The use of active, airborne movement reflects the ways in which these players are quite literally and figuratively pushed beyond constraints to claim space within ‘the beautiful game,’” says Dobbin-Bennett, who curated the photographic installations.
She adds, “The large-scale format of the works further underscores this intention, elevating gestures that are often overlooked and honoring the lived experiences of past students through visual presence and scale. Stylistically, the photographs draw from the dynamism of early twentieth-century Expressionism, referencing the founding of the American Soccer League in 1921, while also engaging the performative and feminist art practices of the 1960s and 1970s, a period that marked significant milestones for soccer at Oxford College.”
Beyond the Pitch
As a soccer fan and an educator, Gunnels knew the FIFA World Cup would be an incredible experience for Oxford students to see up close. That's when she started developing student internships with key Atlanta-based community partners.
“What an amazing opportunity to show Oxford students how the city where they live must prepare to host world events, because this is not just any tournament. Atlanta is hosting eight matches – It's multilingual. It’s multicultural. It implies so many levels of preparation and incredible opportunity for engagement,” says Gunnels.
Soon, strong and supportive alumni connections came into play. One alumna, Cynthia Mokotoff 95Ox 97C, with the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB), was happy to help.
“I’m thrilled for ACVB to partner with Oxford College and Emory University to create an information technology internship. With a lineup of major sporting events coming to Atlanta in the years ahead, this internship will give student-athletes exposure to potential career paths aligned with their natural interests. As an alumna of Oxford College and Emory University, the internships I completed while in school were invaluable in preparing me for life after college, and I’m proud to offer that same opportunity to current students.”
Gunnels says the ACVB internship will provide Oxford students with an opportunity to work deeply in the pre-World Cup, but then, as the event approaches, they will be even more strongly connected to the World Cup. Other Footwork student internships are also in the works.
Watch this space for developing details on Footwork offerings at Oxford College. For details on events on Emory University's campuses, visit libraries.emory.edu/footwork/events.