Ashley Beaton Simpson is in her third year as the SIUE Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Success after joining the program in July 2023.
She oversees the Student-Athlete Development program and the Graduate Assistant Professional Development program. On the academic side, Beaton Simpson serves as the Athletic Academic Advisor for men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and volleyball. She also serves as the advisor for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). She aims to build out the department's student-athlete support and resources in various areas in alignment with SIUE's goals and the NCAA's Holistic model, including leadership development, life skills, career services and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Beaton Simpson is a member of the Women Leaders in Sports and N4A (National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals). She has participated in the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum as a facilitator twice in 2024 and was a participant in the NCAA Effective Facilitation Workshop in 2023.
She arrived at SIUE from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, where she served since 2020, first as Athletics Academic Advisor before being promoted to the Assistant Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Success and Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Designee. As the Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Designee, Beaton Simpson oversaw the department's focus and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion while serving on the University's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council.
While at Parkside, Beaton Simpson was responsible for monitoring student-athlete' academic success and progress towards degree while adhering to the University and NCAA Division II policies. She helped oversee the department's improvement from a 3.297 GPA in Fall 2020 to a 3.47 this past semester.
Beaton Simpson also served as the staff advisor to the Rangers' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Prior to her time at Parkside, Beaton Simpson completed a postgraduate internship with the NCAA in Division II Governance in Indianapolis. There she was part of divisional and association-wide committees in support of the Division II institutions. She also helped lead marketing and social media initiatives, including executing on-site social media strategies for the Division II football and volleyball championships.
Beaton Simpson was a graduate assistant in Athletic Administration at North Georgia from 2017-2019 where she was involved in many facets of Nighthawks Athletics including gameday operations, facility and event management and student-athlete mentorship.
She holds a certificate in Mental Health First Aid, Suicide Postvention Training and is a Career Services Provider through the National Career Development Association. Beaton Simpson is also trained to facilitate DISC.
A native of St. Louis, Beaton Simpson earned her bachelor's degree from Illinois-Springfield where she was a two-year volleyball captain and a Great Lakes Valley Conference All-Academic selection. She earned an MBA from North Georgia.
