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.
