Jackson Free Press

Vivian L. Fuller understands what it takes to lead athletically as well as academically.

Fuller, 56, is Jackson State University's new athletics director. Since 2003, she has been the dean of Sojourner-Douglass College's Cambridge, Md. campus. JSU president Carolyn Meyers appointed Fuller July 20 at the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center's Sports Hall of Fame.

Fuller has more than a decade of experience directing athletic programs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Tennessee State University and Northeastern Illinois University. She made history as the first African American woman to lead a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Athletics program with a football team. In 1997, Tennessee State finished its first season with a winning record and won the Ohio Valley Conference championship.

Fuller received a bachelor's degree in physical education from Fayetteville State University in 1977, a master's of education from the University of Idaho in 1978, and a doctorate in higher education administration from Iowa State University in 1985. She has the academic qualifications with an understanding of the athlete's role in an academic institution. In 1987, Fuller became the associate director of intercollegiate athletics at Indiana University in Pennsylvania, where she developed an academic component for student-athletes participating in the program.

Fuller is a national expert on academic support programs for student-athletes, academic advising, women in sports and management, and gender equity. Fuller has participated in congressional hearings on gender equity and minority participation in sports as well as NCAA committees.

"I'm excited to be a Tiger," Fuller said in a news release. "Jackson State has such a long and proud tradition; I look forward to honoring that tradition and helping our student athletes be the best they can be."