WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- Eastern Connecticut State University director of athletics Lori Runksmeier  is among 28 winners nationwide -- four in the ranks of NCAA Division III -- of  a 2021-22 national Athletic Director-of-the-Year Award from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
 
The award spans seven divisions and highlights the efforts of athletics directors at all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.
 
"As the intercollegiate athletics enterprise continues to evolve and institutions and their departments journey bravely into uncharted waters, we have a new wave of leaders who have answered the call," said Bob Vecchione, NACDA chief executive officer. "This year, 22 of our 28 Athletic Director-of-the-Year honorees are being recognized with the award for the first time in their careers. Additionally, in the year that we celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Title IX, we are proud that all four ADOY winners at the Division III level are women. Thank you to our new title sponsor Cushman & Wakefield, for helping the NACDA family applaud the efforts of these athletics directors across the country."
 
Joining Runksmeier as a Division III recipient are Amanda DeMartino of The College of New Jersey, Stevie Baker-Watson of DePauw University, and Marybeth Lamb of Bridgewater State University.
 
Runksmeier was nominated for the national award by Al Bean – former commissioner of the Little East Conference -- who has served as director of athletics at the University of Southern Maine for 29 years.
 
"Lori is incredibly deserving of this honor," praised Bean. "Her voice is one of the strongest and most respected in Division III and we have all benefited from her wisdom and guidance.  I'm so happy that she is being recognized for the good work that she has done throughout her career.
"Lori has served the membership in almost every leadership capacity possible within the NCAA, NADIIIAA (National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators) and within the Little East Conference," added Bean. "She's intelligent, informed, insightful and collaborates effectively with others to help provide a first-rate experience for student-athletes on all of our campuses."
Through 2020-21, Lori Runksmeier has served as a Division III director of athletics for 22 years. In all, Runksmeier has spent over 30 years in athletic administration, the last seven of them after being appointed the eighth director of athletics at Eastern in the summer of 2015. Prior to her appointment at Eastern, Runksmeier served in a similar capacity for 16 years as director of athletics at New England College.
 
At Eastern, Runksmeier inherited a successful athletic program which featured 17 intercollegiate programs and has since elevated the overall success of the program, as well as expanding the offerings to 19 (ten for women, nine for men) with the additions of men's swimming in 2019-20 and men's golf in the fall of 2020. Under Runksmeier, all of Eastern's head coaches but one now serve in fulltime capacities.
 
Runksmeier feels that her responsibilities to student-athletes are "a combination of raising responsible leaders and citizens and being excellent in athletics. I think athletes play because they want to get better and they want to succeed and I want them to have that opportunity, but I also want them leaving here with a good foundation to be a great adults. Those two things are pretty important to me."
 
Under Runksmeier, Eastern has become the most consistently successful program – both athletically and academically – in the Little East Conference. Although Eastern had finished among the top three institutions 13 times in the first 15 years of the LEC's Commissioner's Cup —which recognizes the most successful athletic program in the conference's championship sports -- the Warriors had never won the cup prior to Runksmeier's arrival. In her first year, Eastern was third overall, then followed that up by winning the cup four consecutive years through 2019-20 (there was no cup awarded in 2020-21 due to Covid).      
 
Prior to Runksmeier's arrival, Eastern had claimed the Presidents' Cup – which represents overall academic excellence among the LEC's championship sports – twice in the first six years of the award. In the following six years under Runksmeier (through 2020/21), the Warriors have won four cups, finished second once and third once.
 
In the Little East, Runksmeier currently serves as liaison for the sports of men's and women's lacrosse.
 
Following a two-year term as vice president, Runksmeier began a two-year term as president of NADIIIAA in the fall of 2020. NADIIIAA is comprised of athletics administrators from over 350 institutions and conferences competing at the NCAA Division III level. The Association encourages the continued development of athletics programs focused on the student-athlete and based on sound educational principles and the Division III philosophy. NADIIIAA is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
 
At New England College – an NCAA Division III institution of 1,000 undergraduates affiliated with the North Atlantic Conference – Runksmeier oversaw 19 intercollegiate programs, as well as club and recreation sports and served as an adjunct faculty member in the kinesiology department. Under Runksmeier, the NEC athletic department added seven programs and a lighted turf field for field hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, and club and recreation sports and conducted facility renovations to its indoor practice facility and outdoor fields, hockey rink, and athletic training room.
 
For three years prior to her appointment at Eastern, Runksmeier had been a member of the NCAA Division III Management Council, also serving previously as the council's vice chair and previously as chair of the NCAA Division III Interpretations & Legislation and Women's Ice Hockey committees.
 
Prior to her appointment at NEC, the Ledyard, IA native spent three years as coordinator of athletic department relations at Division III College of Saint Benedict after serving as administrative assistant to the director of women's athletics at Division II St. Cloud State University for four years and as assistant sports information director at Division II Minnesota State University, Mankato for one.
 
All NACDA-member directors of athletics in the United States, Canada and Mexico who met the criteria were eligible for the award. Among the criteria were service as an AD for a minimum of five academic years; demonstration of commitment to higher education and student-athletes; continuous teamwork, loyalty and excellence; and the ability to inspire individuals or groups to high levels of accomplishments. Additionally, each AD's institution must have passed a compliance check through its appropriate governing body (i.e., NCAA, NAIA, etc.), in which the institution could not have been on probation or cited for a lack of institutional control during the tenure of the current athletics director.
 
Nominators were NACDA-member directors of athletics, institutional presidents and conference commissioners, as well as other respected intercollegiate athletics administrators. Special Divisional Selection Committees composed of current and former directors of athletics, current and former commissioners and other key athletics administrators voted on nominees for the award. 
 
Winners will be recognized in conjunction with the 57^th Annual NACDA & Affiliates Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, prior to the Featured Session on Tuesday, June 28 at 4 p.m. Cushman & Wakefield is in its first year of sponsoring the award. The ADOY Award program is in its 24^th year and has recognized a total of 535 deserving athletics directors to date.
 
Now in its 57th year, NACDA is the professional and educational Association for more than 22,000 college athletics administrators at more than 2,200 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. NACDA manages 17 professional associations and four foundations.