UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour recently announced the promotion of three Intercollegiate Athletics staff members and new titles and expanded duties for two additional members of the ICA team.
Lynn Holleran has been named deputy director of athletics, administration. Jemal Griffin has been named assistant athletic director, chief of staff for football; and Kris Petersen has been named assistant athletic director for strategic communications.
Holleran is entering her fourth year at Penn State. In addition to serving as a sport administrator for five programs, she has oversight of the compliance and human resources units. Holleran also is ICA’s primary liaison with the Morgan Academic Center, the University’s Office of General Counsel and the Faculty Athletics Representative, Dennis Scanlon.
Griffin is entering his fifth year with the Nittany Lions and oversees the day-to-day management and operation of the football program, its administrative staff and the football budget. He serves as the program’s primary liaison with ICA and University administration.
Petersen joined the Penn State staff in 2006 as the primary communications contact with the women’s basketball program. In 2011, she was named associate director of communications and in 2015 she became the primary communications contact for the football program, overseeing all communications and media relations initiatives for the team.
Additionally, in May, ICA announced that Cory Chapman had been promoted to associate athletic director for facility and event operations. With Chapman’s new role, assistant athletic directors Herb Combs and Michael Cross will have expanded duties and titles entering 2018-19.
Combs is now the assistant athletic director for facilities and grounds and will maintain oversight of all outdoor facilities and grounds and manage various capital projects for ICA. Cross, assistant athletic director for new business development, will add general manager of Pegula Ice Arena to his portfolio and title while continuing to serve as sport administrator for six teams and identifying new revenue generating business throughout ICA.
Led by Barbour, Penn State offers one of the nation’s most broad-based and successful athletic programs, embodying comprehensive excellence with 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men’s, 15 women’s). Penn State student-athletes have an NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 90 percent, which ties the Nittany Lions’ all-time high. Nine teams earned a 100 percent GSR in the NCAA’s November 2017 report.
A school record 520 Penn State student-athletes earned at least a 3.0 grade-point average during the 2017 fall semester and the Nittany Lions broke another record by posting a combined 3.15 GPA during the 2018 spring semester. Penn State ranks No. 4 among all Division I schools with 201 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time.
Penn State’s 50 NCAA Championships all-time (78 national championships overall) rank No. 5 among all NCAA Division I programs and are the highest total of any college or university east of the Mississippi River. Penn State’s 31 NCAA titles since 1992-93, including a third consecutive NCAA Wrestling Championship, lead all Big Ten Conference institutions. The Nittany Lions have won 107 Big Ten championships or tournament titles since capturing their first crown in 1992-93.