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Vice President For Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour
2020-21 PENN STATE WOMEN'S HOCKEY SANDY BARBOUR
SANDY BARBOUR
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V .P . FOR INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS
Wake Forest ’81 (B.A.) Massachusetts, ’83 (M.S.) Northwestern, ’91 (M.B.A.)
Recognized as one of the nation’s premier Athletic Directors, Sandy Barbour enters her seventh year as the dynamic leader of the Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics program. With student success and comprehensive excellence as a steadfast focus, Barbour has helped the Nittany Lions continue to ascend and thrive as one of the nation’s most successful athletic departments.
Barbour began her passionate and effective leadership of the Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics program in August 2014. President Eric J. Barron named Barbour the Nittany Lions’ ninth Director of Athletics after she served for 10 years as Director of Athletics at the University of California.
In February 2019, Barbour received a contract extension through August 31, 2023 and assumed the title of Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics.
Leader of Premier Athletic Department in Academic, Athletic and Community Engagement
One of the nation's most highly-respected Athletic Directors, Barbour has more than 35 years of varied experiences as a collegiate administrator and coach, with a demonstrated record of championships, academic success, innovation, facility modernization and revenue growth. Barbour directs one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful athletic programs that boasts an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 91 percent, while capturing 79 national championships and 114 Big Ten titles all-time.
During Barbour’s initial six years of leadership in Happy Valley, Penn State student-athletes have consistently raised the bar and broken or tied school academic records, including the number of Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recipients. A total of 159 Nittany Lion students graduated during the 2019 fall and 2020 spring and summer semesters. A combined total of 924 student-athletes have earned their degrees during Barbour’s tenure.
The 2019-20 athletic year saw unprecedented times with the cancellation of winter championships and the spring season due to COVID-19. The Nittany Lion women’s soccer team claimed the Big Ten Tournament title in the fall and the men’s hockey team took home the Big Ten regular-season crown to boost Penn State’s total to six NCAA Championships and 31 conference crowns under Barbour’s direction. Barbour served as the cochair of the medical subcommittee on the Big Ten’s Return to Competition Task Force, which developed stringent medical protocols to ensure the health and safety of student-athletes while returning to sport.
Nittany Lions Students are the "Why" for Penn State Athletics Soon after her arrival at Penn State, Barbour began to implement her vision for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics and creating conditions for success for the department’s “Why” – the more than 800 Nittany Lion student-athletes.
Six months into her tenure, Barbour announced a reorganization of ICA that introduced a more vertical structure to encourage communication and collaboration across functional units and sports. Four administrative divisions were formed: student-athlete performance, health and welfare; internal and external relations and operations, administration and business and finance. Barbour also oversees a comprehensive facilities master plan, which was announced in March 2017. Penn State partnered with Populous, one of the world's leading architecture and sport event planning firms, to collaborate on developing a comprehensive facilities master plan to provide a 20-year road map for addressing current and long-term needs for all of the Nittany Lions' facilities
Barbour initiated the additional utilization of ICA’s physical assets, resulting in the first NHL pre-season games in Pegula Ice Arena and the initial concert in Beaver Stadium – the Happy Valley Jam, featuring Blake Shelton, in July 2017. Pegula Ice Arena has also hosted three NHL preseason contests, all featuring the Buffalo Sabres, since 2016.
Academic Excellence Among Record-Setting Achievements; 91 Percent NCAA Graduation Rate
Penn State student-athletes have consistently delivered academic excellence and record performances during Barbour's tenure.
In November 2019, the NCAA released its annual national graduation rates study, which disclosed that Penn State student-athletes earned a school-record Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 91 percent, marking the third consecutive year of a GSR of 90 percent or higher. Ten Nittany Lion teams earned a perfect 100 percent Graduation Success Rate.
Nittany Lion students posted a school record-tying 3.17 grade-point average following the 2019 fall semester, with 535 student-athletes posted at least at 3.0 GPA, the highest total in school history (520, fall 2017). A record 28 of 31 teams recorded at least a 3.0 semester GPA in the 2019 fall semester. All 31 teams earned at least a 3.0 semester GPA with the University’s COVID-19 alternative grading system in place for the 2020 spring semester.
A school-record total of 280 Nittany Lion students garnered Dean’s List honors for earning at least a 3.5 GPA (minimum 12 credits) during the 2019 fall semester.
For the third consecutive year, more than 350 Penn State student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors with 350 Nittany Lions posting a 3.0 GPA or higher in 2019-20. Students from the spring/at-large (174) and winter (82) sports posted the second-highest Academic All-Big Ten total in program history.
Starting with the 2014 fall semester, Barbour’s first as Penn State AD, Penn State student-athletes have achieved the 10 highest semesters alltime for the number of students earning at least a 3.0 GPA (does note include spring 2020 due to COVID-19 alternative grading system).
In the six years Barbour has led Penn State Athletics, the Nittany Lions have captured six NCAA Championships in women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and wrestling and won 26 Big Ten titles and five EIVA crowns for a total of 31 conference championships.
Penn State Athletics has a pair of top-10 finishes (three in Top 15) in the final Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup standings under Barbour’s direction. The Directors’ Cup was not awarded in 2019-20 due to COVID-19. Penn State also was ranked No. 8 among the nation’s 65 Power Five institutions in 2017-18, according to Yahoo! Sports.
AD of the Year Recipient in 2016-17 and Finalist in 2018
Barbour’s leadership was recognized with her selection for the prestigious National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Under Armour AD of the Year Award in 2016-17, having directed Penn State to nine conference championships and one NCAA title. She was among four Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Athletic Directors to be honored at the 2017 NACDA Convention, marking the second time in her career she had received the NACDA honor.
In 2020, Barbour was among the honorees on Sports Illustrated’s “The Unrelenting” list of the most powerful, most influential and most outstanding women in sports. In 2018, she was named one of five finalists for Sports Business Journal’s prestigious Athletic Director of the Year. Barbour, the recent chair of the Big Ten Athletic Directors, was recognized at the 11th Annual SBJ Sports Business Awards Gala in New York City in May, the second time she’s been a finalist for SBJ’s Athletic Director of the Year.
