March 9, 2006
ATLANTA, GA – – University of Iowa’s Jane Meyer has been named the recipient of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s (WBCA) Administrator of the Year Award for her excellence in athletic administration. This award is presented annually to an administrator, athletic director, associate or assistant athletic director or senior woman administrator who has excelled at encouraging the growth and quality of women’s basketball programs and women’s athletic programs overall. The candidate must also have served as a professional role model for student-athletes.
“On behalf of the WBCA, I would like to applaud Jane Meyer for her continuous devotion to women’s athletics,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. “Jane is an outstanding role model for the game of basketball and has definitely earned the WBCA Administrator of the Year Award.”
Meyer is the Senior Associate Director of Athletics at the University of Iowa and also serves as the Senior Woman Administrator. Her responsibilities include being the sports administrator for several of the University of Iowa’s varsity sports programs and overseeing athletics facilities, including the construction of the West Campus Tennis-Recreation Center and sports activity fields and the Kinnick Stadium renovation project.
Recently, Meyer was appointed to the NCAA Championships/Competition Cabinet to the 10-member Division I Women’s Basketball Committee and will serve on this committee until September 2010. This appointment marks the first time a University of Iowa athletic director has been appointed to the Women’s Basketball Committee.
Prior to joining the University of Iowa in March 2001, Meyer was the Associate Director of Athletics and Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Her duties with the Eagles included overseeing a nationally recognized 19-sport NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletics program and directed the graduate sports administration program. From June 1999 to March 2000, Meyer served as the director of Education Outreach with the NCAA where she managed the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Program, Alcohol Education programs, the NCAA Drug Testing program, Title IX/Gender Equity Education, Women’s Issues and the Injury Surveillance program.
Meyer received her Bachelor of Science in biology in 1982 from Mount Mercy College and in 1988 she completed her Master of Science. In 1992, she completed her Doctorate of Philosophy in athletics administration from the University of Iowa.
Meyer will be formally presented her award at the WBCA Awards Luncheon presented by State Farm and Jostens on Sunday, April 2 at 12:30 p.m. (ET) in the Hynes Convention Center Ballroom in Boston, Mass. The WBCA Awards Luncheon presented by State Farm and Jostens is part of the WBCA National Convention held in conjunction with the 2006 NCAA® Women’s Final Four®. This year the WBCA celebrates it’s Silver Anniversary, marking 25 years of existence.
Past recipients of the WBCA Administrator of the Year Award include: Debbie Richardson, Campbell University (2005); Dr. M. Dianne Murphy, University of Denver (2004); Cary Groth, Northern Illinois University (2003); Marita Hynes, University of Oklahoma (2002); Jane Meier, Northern Kentucky (2001); Bernadette McGlade, ACC (2000); Don DiJulia, St. Joseph’s (Pa.) University (1999); Jean Lenti Ponsetto, DePaul University (1998); Lynn Dorn, North Dakota State University (1997); Dr. Mary Jo Wynn, Southwest Missouri State University (1996); Ellen Perry, Pennsylvania State University (1995); Lynn Barry, USA Basketball (1994); the late Jeannine McHaney, Texas Tech University (1993); Dr. Christine Grant, University of Iowa (1992); Dr. James Jarrett, Old Dominion University (1991); Dr. Judith Holland, UCLA (1990); Dr. Donna Lopiano, University of Texas (1989); Dr. Joyce Wong, University of Rochester (1988); Joan Cronan, University of Tennessee (1987); Nora Lynn Finch, North Carolina State University (1987); Dr. Charlotte West, Southern Illinois University (1987).
Founded in 1981, the WBCA promotes women’s basketball by unifying coaches at all levels to develop a reputable identity for the sport and to foster and promote the development of the game in all of its aspects as an amateur sport for women and girls. For more information about the WBCA, please visit WBCA.org.