NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State Senior Associate Athletics Director for Compliance & Student Services Cindy Harris has been
appointed as a member of the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Committee. Her term of service on the committee will begin immediately and continue through August 31, 2022, when she will be eligible for reappointment.
"I am honored to be afforded the opportunity to represent Illinois State University and all members of the Midwest Independent Gymnastics Conference on a national level while serving on the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Committee," Harris stated. "This is a responsibility that I will give my very best to. I look forward to collaborating with my fellow committee members and women's gymnastics coaches to enhance and advance the sport."
Harris is no stranger to working with the NCAA on national committees, as she formerly served as a liaison to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee and served a four-year stint on the NCAA Division I Progress Toward Degree Waivers Committee. She currently serves on the NCAA Division I Academic and Membership Affairs (AMA) Enhanced Education Advisory Group, the Academic Performance Program Advisory Group and the Academic and Membership Affairs (AMA) Technology Advisory Group.
Her responsibilities at Illinois State include the daily oversight and function of the athletics department's NCAA compliance efforts, including review of all eligibility and financial aid matters for 19 varsity teams and approximately 480 student-athletes. Harris is also responsible for many of the athletics department's student services initiatives, including the academic review process of prospective student-athletes, housing, dining, federal taxation, fifth-year aid program, and oversight of the NCAA Student Assistance Fund.
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. In addition, Harris is the direct supervisor of two Redbird sport programs: swimming and diving and gymnastics.
Before returning to ISU, Harris was an associate commissioner at the Mid-Continent Conference (now the Summit League), where, in addition to serving in the capacity of 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.
Following a stellar volleyball career as a student-athlete for the Redbirds, Harris became a successful college volleyball coach. She 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 an adult son, Neil, who also graduated from Illinois State.
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