Contact: Kelly Bartling, assistant vice chancellor, Communications and Community Relations, 308-224-7473, bartlingkh@unk.edu
Writer: Todd Gottula, director of news and internal communications, 308-865-8454, gottulatm@unk.edu
What: Athletics director candidate forum
When: 11 a.m., July 29
Where: Ponderosa Room at the Nebraskan Student Union
KEARNEY – The community will have the opportunity to meet Jean Berger, the second of four finalists for the University of Nebraska at Kearney athletics director position, on July 29.
A campus community and media forum is scheduled at 11 a.m. in the Ponderosa Room at the Nebraskan Student Union. A community forum open to the public will begin at 5 p.m. at the UNK Alumni House.
Berger has served as senior associate athletic director/senior woman administrator at the University of Northern Iowa (Division I) since 2008. She held a similar position at Drake University from 1992-2005 and has 28 years of successful collegiate athletics administration experience, including at Wayne State College in Nebraska.
Berger currently is a member of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee. At Northern Iowa she is the direct supervisor of four women’s sports: basketball, softball, tennis and volleyball. She also oversees academic services, NCAA compliance and athletic training. She is responsible for implementing and monitoring gender equity plans and assisting with marketing and budgeting of assigned programs.
Berger’s responsibilities at Drake included supervision of 11 athletic programs and overseeing the department’s student services, including compliance, academic support, sports medicine and strength and conditioning. She also served a five-year term on the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee.
Remaining athletics director candidates also will attend community forums during their campus visits, with those dates and times announced at a later date. The forums are being arranged to enable the campus and Kearney community to meet the candidates and give input.
Other finalists include Mary Ellen Gillespie, associate athletics director for external relations at Bowling Green State University; Rick Goeb, former director of athletics at Bemidji State University; and Paul Plinske, director of athletics at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
-30-
