Iowa State University Athletics

Dr. Calli Sanders, who has administrative responsibility for 15 of Iowa State’s 18 intercollegiate athletic programs, joined the Cyclone staff in 2003 as Senior Associate Athletics Director for Sports Administration. She also serves as ISU’s Senior Woman Administrator (SWA) to the NCAA and Big 12 Conference, is an ex-officio member of the Iowa State Athletics Council and served as a campus Deputy Title IX Coordinator.

The teams under Sanders’ supervision have risen to national prominence during her Iowa State tenure while combining to win 17 of ISU’s 29 all-time Big 12 Conference championships.  The Cyclone women’s basketball, tennis and volleyball teams have all advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight; the softball team made an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021; while the gymnastics, cross country, and both men’s and women’s golf teams have all reached their respective national tournament championship sites under her direction.

Sanders began her athletics administrative career in Sports Information at American University (1987-88). From there, she spent 10 years (1988-97) at UAB in the roles of Sports Information, Compliance Coordinator, Assistant Athletics Director and Associate Athletics Director. Sanders was instrumental in helping UAB establish Division IA football and women’s soccer programs while instituting the school’s first compliance and academic units. She concurrently served as the Blazers’ head women’s golf coach (1994-96).

After a decade of service to UAB, Sanders returned to her native state of Montana in 1997 as Montana State’s Associate Athletics Director, where she worked until 2001. She supervised nine Bobcat programs and four department units before stepping away from athletics briefly to serve as the University of Maine’s Associate Dean of Students (2002-03).

Active on numerous NCAA and Big 12 committees throughout her career, Sanders served on the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee (1999-2001) and chaired the West Regional advisory and Final Four site selection committees. She has directed several NCAA Tournament rounds and assisted with operations at the 2000 and 2001 Women’s Basketball Final Fours.

Sanders has served on the Big 12’s television, legislation, ethical conduct, administrative and gender equity committees and has chaired the Big 12’s SWA governance group three times. She was a peer reviewer for the NCAA certification program and serves on the editorial board of Athletic Management magazine. Sanders has taught a “Gender Issues in Sports” class at Iowa State since 2012.

Sanders earned an undergraduate degree in communications from Montana (1986), a master’s in education from UAB (1990) and a doctorate in higher education administration from Montana State (2004). She also completed the Sports Management Institute’s executive program in 2002 at Notre Dame and the University of South Carolina.

Calli and her husband, Rick, who has led the ISU Research Park as President and Director since 2019, have three grown children. Theisen is an Iowa State graduate and works as a software engineer in Chicago; Jack (wife, Blair), is an Iowa State graduate, owning/operating a start-up technology company in Ames; and Molly, a former basketball player at the United States Naval Academy, serves as a Public Affairs Officer for the United States Navy and is stationed at the Pentagon.