Walla Walla’s Whitman College Appoints New Athletic Director

Whitman College has announced the appointment of Kim Chandler as the college’s new athletic director and chair of Sports Studies, Recreation and Athletics.

Chandler's career spans more than 30 years, worked most recently in the office of the CEO for North Star Resource Group, a financial services firm. Prior to that, she spent 10 years as the athletic director for Macalester College in Minnesota. She also served as athletic director for Beloit College in Wisconsin, assistant athletic director for Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan and as a basketball coach at Ohio Northern University and California State University, Northridge, among other top ranked programs.

Chandler will relocate to Walla Walla this summer and assume her new role in June, succeeding Interim Athletics Director Michelle Ferenz, who continues on as head women’s basketball coach.

Chandler has a proven track record of success. During her tenure at Macalester, the football team made the NCAA playoffs for the first time in school history.  In 2009, Chandler received the Women Leaders in College Sports Administrator of the Year Award for Division III.

She says she is honored to be joining Whitman College. "I look forward to getting to know Whitman’s bright, talented and passionate scholar-athletes, coaches, staff, faculty and alumni,” Chandler said. “Whitman College is an elite academic institution with a prestigious and proud athletic tradition, and I look forward to building on this strong foundation.”