GEORGETOWN – Southwestern University has announced the addition of two new staff members in the athletic training and sports information departments with the hiring of Curt Snyder and Phillip Dowden.

With the addition of football at Southwestern, both Snyder and Dowden bring a wealth of experience that will help in the revitalization of Pirate football. Both began at Southwestern in July, as Snyder's main duties will include serving as the athletic trainer for football, while Dowden will serve as the main media contact for the Pirate football team with both also assisting all 20 varsity sports at Southwestern.

Snyder comes to Southwestern from Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference member Centenary College where he served as the assistant athletic trainer since September 2012. Prior to his time at Centenary he earned his master's degree in kinesiology at California University of Pennsylvania, where he was a graduate assistant athletic trainer covering the Vulcan football team.

Before joining CalU's staff, Snyder worked as an exercise physiologist at the Integrated Medical Centers in San Diego. He also spent a significant amount of time volunteering, including an almost-two-year period with San Diego State University where he earned his bachelor's degree in 2010 and helped cover the football, soccer and baseball teams. In May 2010, Snyder also gained experience in a professional setting by volunteering with the NFL's San Diego Chargers.

Dowden returns to Texas after spending the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years as the director of media relations at Northwest Missouri State. He brings a strong social media and broadcasting background to Southwestern where he has increased the social media following of each department at his previous two stops.

Prior to Dowden's time at Northwest, he spent two years as the assistant director of media relations at Abilene Christian University. At ACU he was in charge of social media and also helped create the Wildcat Sports Network broadcasting ACU baseball, football, basketball and volleyball games online. His media relations career began as a sports information assistant at College of the Ozarks and Missouri Southern State University before working for the American Junior Golf Association in Braselton, Ga.

Dowden graduated from Missouri Southern with a communications degree in 2008. He is a member of the College Sports Information Director's of America (CoSIDA), National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).