Iowa State’s already strong women’s basketball program will soon gain an experienced advocate.

On Tuesday, Calli Sanders was named Iowa State’s associate athletics director and senior woman administrator.

Sanders, currently the associate dean of students at the University of Maine, will arrive at Iowa State on April 1.

She has been at Maine since 2001, and she has worked in intercollegiate athletics since 1988.

From 1999-2001, Sanders served on the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee. She was the chairwoman of the site selection subcommittee and the West Regional advisory committee.

“[Calli’s] previous experience serving on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Committee will be a great asset to our women’s basketball program and contribute to our efforts to host future regional tournaments,” athletics director Bruce Van De Velde said in a press release.

“I believe she will be an outstanding addition and make an immediate impact on our women’s programs.”

Sanders already has some familiarity with the state of Iowa. She interviewed for a similar position at the University of Iowa in 2001. “I know that Iowa folks are very fond of their sports, whether it be Cyclones or Hawkeyes,” she said.

The move to Iowa will allow Sanders to be closer to her native Montana, a fact that is not lost on her. “[Iowa] is more similar to the places I grew up in,” she said.

Sanders graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in communications in 1986. From 1988-97, she worked at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, serving as associate athletics director starting in 1990.

She then served as the senior associate director of athletics at Montana State from 1997-2001.

Sanders and her husband, Rick, have three children.