Glenna Andrews, who has been with the University of Portland Athletic Department since 2015, has been promoted to the role of Assistant Athletic Director for Academic and Student-Athlete Development, announced Vice President for Athletics Scott Leykam. Andrews replaces Alison Knoedler, who recently accepted the position of Undergraduate Program Coordinator and Counselor for UP's Pamplin School of Business.
 
"I am incredibly honored and excited to continue my work as a member of the Portland Athletic Department and University of Portland community," said Andrews, who originally hails from Middleton, Wis., and earned a degree from nearby Lewis & Clark College. "This campus and community fully lives out the mission of investing in and educating the full person, making it a very special place to be. I look forward to continue building upon both our framework for academic support and development programming as we grow in how we serve each and every student-athlete and program."
 
Andrews previously served as an Assistant Director of Academic and Student-Athlete Development in the department. She began her career at Portland in the fall of 2015 as an intern and has worked in various student support capacities since, including most recently serving as the academic advisor for men's basketball, the staff liaison to SAAC, and the creator of the PilotsLead leadership development program.

As the Assistant Athletic Director for Academic and Student-Athlete Development, Andrews will manage all academic and student-athlete development activities and operations within the department. Duties include organizing and managing a comprehensive academic support program, overseeing organization and management of student development and leadership programming, and acting as the liaison between UP faculty and the athletic department.

Andrews will collaborate with academic units on campus to advance academic support of student-athletes, and will have management responsibility for the Pilot Academic Resource Center (PARC) in the Chiles Center.
 
During the last four years the University of Portland has continually invested in academic support for student-athletes, including the expansion to the current staff of four full-time employees and establishing the new PARC study space inside the Chiles Center.

Portland annually rates high on the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) and Graduation Success Rate (GSR) scales. Pilot student-athletes have posted a 97 percent graduation rate each of the last two years and the department recorded a 3.27 cumulative grade-point average during the 2018 Fall semester.