Mississippi Valley State University President William B. Bynum announced Dianthia Ford-Kee as the new Director of Athletics.
Previously, Ford-Kee served five years as the Director of Athletics at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania having successfully navigated Lincoln’s Athletic Department to active membership in NCAA Division II and return to the CIAA. Ford-Kee came to Lincoln from Shaw University where she spent 18 years working in athletic administration and coaching. Ford-Kee, was named the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA) – NCAA Division II Female Athletic Administrator of the Year in 2006 while serving as Shaw’s Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator.
“While serving as president of three CIAA schools (Virginia Union, Livingstone and St. Augustine’s), I had the opportunity to get to know and view first-hand the coaching and athletic administrative career of Dianthia Ford-Kee while she was at Shaw University,” said Dr. Bernard Franklin, NCAA Executive Vice President for Membership and Student-Athlete Affairs and NCAA Chief Inclusion Officer. “Since joining the NCAA in 2003 as a senior executive staff member, I continued my relationship with Dianthia and have had the opportunity to witness her Associate A.D. work at Shaw and A.D. work at Lincoln and know of the numerous NCAA committees she has served on and the respect that the NCAA staff has for her work and leadership in athletics. MVSU is getting a seasoned, highly professional and expert athletic administrator who is viewed as one of the finest A.D.’s in the country. I know that she will do an excellent job at The Valley and Dr. Bynum and the MVSU community and athletic teams are very fortunate to have her aboard as A.D. The NCAA staff and I look forward to a continued strong working relationship with Mrs. Ford-Kee.”
Ford-Kee has been appointed to serve on the NCAA Minority Opportunity & Interest Committee and the CIAA Executive Committee as the Vice President for the Northern Division. She currently serves on the NCAA Division II Project Team to Review Issues Related to Diversity and the NCAA DII Strategic Alliance Matching Grant Selection, NCAA DII Women’s Basketball Atlantic Regional Advisory Committee, Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce, Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce. Previous committee service includes NCAA Division II Management Council as the CIAA Conference representative from 1999-2005 and Committee on Women’s Athletics, Division II Nominating Committee.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Fayetteville State University in 1982 and a master’s degree in Public Affairs from Northern Illinois University in 1984.
Most recently, Ford-Kee was honored by the Black Women in Sports Foundation for her accomplishments at Lincoln University and in the field of athletics with the Legends Award. She has received several honors in the state of North Carolina, she was a 1998 inductee in the Wake County Academy for Women for Athletics and a 1999 nominee of the Governor’s Distinguished Woman Award for Athletics. Recently, in October of 2009, she was honored and the recipient of the Northern Illinois University’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Golden Anniversary Alumni Award for she was 1 of the 50 alumni who has distinguished themselves in their careers that have contributed to the worlds of education, science, scholarship, business, law, medicine, community leadership and engagement, philanthropy and government service.
Ford-Kee has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success with her softball and volleyball program. Her team members have won NCAA national statistical honors as well as NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. Shaw University won the CIAA Softball Championship four times (1993, 1994, 1996 and 2003) and the CIAA Volleyball Championship twice in 1993 and 1995. Ford-Kee was named CIAA Softball Coach of the Year in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 2003. The 1996 team was undefeated in the CIAA and compiled an overall seasonal record of 39-9. Ford-Kee led Shaw to a conference record of 212-86 and an overall mark of 309-207.
While competing in the sports of basketball and softball as a student at Fayetteville State University she was a member of the 1979 CIAA Women’s Basketball Championship Team and the 1982 CIAA Softball Championship Team. Ford-Kee earned several All Conference and Tournament Team honors and was selected MVP of the 1982 Softball Championship Tournament. In 1982, she was selected Fayetteville State University’s Athlete of the Year and was the youngest inductee into Fayetteville State University’s Athletic Hall of Fame (1997).
A native of Lawrenceville, N.J., Ford-Kee was inducted into the inaugural class of Lawrence High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008 as the first athlete in the history of the high school to score over 1000 points playing only 3 years of high school basketball. She currently holds basketball records that have not been broken at Lawrence High School in Lawrenceville, N.J., in its 44 years of existence.
Courtesy: MVSU Media Relations
