Veteran college athletics administrator and former Redbird volleyball star Cindy Harris enters her 27th year at her alma mater, currently in the role of Executive Associate Athletic Director for Compliance & Student Services.

Harris oversees all aspects of the department’s institutional NCAA compliance matters for nineteen varsity sports.  She is a member of the Director of Athletics’ Cabinet and Senior Staff leadership team.  Harris oversees the athletics department’s student services components including Student-Athlete Development, housing, dining, textbooks, NCAA Student Assistance Fund, and the department’s degree completion program.

Harris serves as the athletic department’s primary liaison to several campus units, including Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar, University College Advising Unit, Institutional Research, Housing, Dining, International Student Services, and Student Accounts. Harris serves as the chief data officer for the university in the areas of NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) and Graduation Success Rate (GSR), not only in compiling data and preparing appropriate records, but also in projecting future rates and improvement strategies with coaches, sport administrators, and the athletics department’s academic support staff. 

Harris is the direct supervisor of two Redbird sports programs:  swimming and diving and gymnastics, which won the Midwest Independent Conference title in 2023 and 2025.  She recently completed a six-year term as a member of the NCAA Division I Women’s Gymnastics Committee; and has previously served as a site representative for the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee.  Harris completed a four-year stint on the NCAA Division I Progress Toward Degree Waivers Committee and has served on other NCAA committees including  AMA Partners in Education and APR Review.  Most recently Harris was selected to serve on the Missouri Valley Conference Legislative Review Committee and its Equity and Diversity Committee. 

Before returning to ISU, Harris was an associate commissioner at the Mid-Continent Conference, where, in addition to serving as Senior Woman Administrator for the 10-member league, she oversaw the conference’s NCAA compliance program, served as the chief liaison to all sport committees, and coordinated the league’s championship events and awards programs.

A successful college volleyball coach, Harris served as an assistant at both Utah and Penn State, before moving on to the head coaching position at Valparaiso University, where she was named the Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year in 1991.

Harris earned her bachelor’s degree from Illinois State in 1984, and later earned her master’s degree at Utah. A native of Buffalo, Illinois, Harris has a son, Neil, who also graduated from Illinois State.