Julie Hammer currently serves as the associate athletic director for career enhancement and employer relations, directing the David G. Kabiller NU for Life Program. Hammer was elevated to oversee the program since its inception in 2012.
 
The Kabiller NU For Life program serves as the connector between student-athletes and external constituents (alums, employers, professionals not associated with NU), constantly facilitating informational interviews, internship and job opportunities. It also provides one-on-one career consulting, resume review, interview preparation and a four-year curriculum that focuses on improving student-athletes’ professional IQ. The Kabiller NU for Life program assists Northwestern’s nearly 500 student-athletes in all 19 sports and provides individualized career strategizing across a variety of industries.
 
Additionally, Hammer is the Vice Chair of Sports Administration within the department, supporting and guiding all sport administrators while working directly with the softball and field hockey programs. As part of this role, she also serves on the B1G’s Sport Management Committee (SMC). 
 
Hammer joined NU's athletic communications staff in 2005 after stints at the Big Ten Conference and Teamworks Media in Chicago. She spent seven years as an associate director of athletic communications and publications coordinator prior to taking over the NU For Life initiative in an assistant athletic director capacity.
 
Prior to joining Northwestern, Hammer worked in communications for the Big Ten Conference and was a project coordinator for Teamworks Media in Chicago.
 
Hammer is a 2003 graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications with a bachelor's degree in magazine journalism and earned a master's degree in higher education and policy from Northwestern in 2009. 
 
A Verizon Academic All-American in softball and Syracuse Orange Plus Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, Hammer has served as an instructor and thesis advisor in Northwestern's MA in sports administration (MSA) program and as a research coach in NU's MA in higher education administration and policy thesis sequence.
 
She and her husband, Scott, have two sons, Elliott and Kieran.