Dr. Calli Sanders, who has oversight responsibility for 15 Cyclone sports, joined the staff in 2003. The Senior Associate A.D. for Sports Administration is the school’s Senior Woman Administrator (SWA) and a liaison with the Athletics Council.

The Cyclones continue to make steady gains on the field of play and several of Sanders’ sports have enjoyed national prominence. In recent years, the women’s basketball and volleyball teams advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and ranked among the country’s best programs in their respective polls. 

The women’s cross country team won its first ever Big 12 championship last fall and the men’s and women’s golf team both made regional play for the first time since 1996.

Sanders’ athletics administrative career began at Alabama-Birmingham (1988-97), where she served as SWA, compliance coordinator and associate sports information director before promotions to assistant and then associate athletics director. She was instrumental in helping UAB establish Division IA football and women’s soccer programs and creating the school’s first compliance and academic advising units. 

Sanders returned to her native state of Montana in 1997, serving as associate A.D. at Montana State until 2001. She supervised nine sports and four departmental units for MSU. She was then Associate Dean of Students at Maine (2002-03) before coming to Ames.

Among her many assignments with national committees, Sanders served on the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee (1999-2001) and chaired the West Regional advisory and site selection committees. She directed several NCAA tournament rounds and assisted with operations at the 2000 and 2001 Women’s Basketball Final Fours. 

Sanders was a peer reviewer for the NCAA certification program and is on the editorial board of Athletic Management magazine. At the conference level, she has served on committees for television, legislation, ethical conduct and gender equity.

Sanders has an undergraduate degree in communications from Montana (1986), a master’s in education from UAB (1990), and a doctorate in higher education administration from Montana State (2004). She also completed the Sports Management Institute’s executive program in 2002.

Calli and her husband, Rick, have three children: Theisen, Jack and Molly.