DENISHA L. HENDRICKS NAMED DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS AT KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY
June 19, 2009
Frankfort, KY - President Mary Evan Sias has named Denisha L. Hendricks, Ed.D as the Director of Athletics at Kentucky State University, effective July 1, 2009. Dr. Hendricks served as the Senior Woman Administrator (SWA) and Assistant Director of Athletics for Internal Operations at Johnson C. Smith University. She has been on the senior management team, assisting with the administration and governance of the Department of Athletics at JCSU.
Dr. Hendricks will lead an athletic department with 13 varsity sports programs at KSU. Kentucky State University's intercollegiate athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Men's varsity teams include baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, tennis, and track. Women's teams include basketball, cross-country, softball, tennis, track, and volleyball.
"This is an extremely exciting opportunity and challenge that I am looking forward to at Kentucky State," said Dr. Hendricks. "Johnson C. Smith will always feel like another home to me and the experiences and knowledge gained here has been essential to my development as an effective athletic administrator."
"Dr. Hendricks has been an invaluable Senior Woman Administrator/Assistant Athletic Director here at Johnson C. Smith University for the past four years," said JCSU Director of Athletics Stephen Joyner, Sr. "Her passion for the education of student-athletes and concern for the quality of student-athlete welfare has been very evident and beneficial to the athletic departments' accomplishment of a consistent annual high graduation rate and athletic competition excellence".
In addition to serving as the SWA and Assistant AD, Dr. Hendricks has been an instructor and coordinator in the Health and Human Performance Program. Dr. Hendricks is the youngest Director of Athletics in the history of Kentucky State University at the age of 30. She brings to the University a wealth of knowledge in intercollegiate athletics, having also served at Livingstone College as the SWA and Dean of the Academic Village.
"She has worked very hard to prepare herself for a position as athletic director by participating in the NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Females, attending the annual NCAA Convention and by participating in annual professional development activities," Joyner continued. "Dr. Hendricks leaves with high admiration from her colleagues and student-athletes."
Hendricks holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education/Athletic Training from the University of South Carolina. She earned a Master's and Doctoral in Higher Education Administration from Auburn University in 2001 and 2004, respectively.
A native of Auburn, Alabama, Hendricks is an active member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. She is the daughter of Dr. Constance Smith Hendricks, Dean of the School of Nursing at Hampton University, National Director of Z-HOPE and Mr. James L. Hendricks, Jr., retired band director with the Birmingham City Board of Education. Hendricks will make her home in Frankfort, KY.
