DePaul University has tapped Jean Lenti Ponsetto, a nationally known, well-respected administrator, to become its new athletic director, joining an elite group of 17 women who hold such positions at the 318 universities that compete in the NCAA’s Division I, Vice President for Student Affairs James R. Doyle announced today.

Lenti Ponsetto, 45, has spent her entire career at DePaul—first as a four-sport athlete—then as an assistant women’s basketball coach, assistant athletic director, associate athletic director and, for the past seven years, senior associate athletic director. In this role, she was responsible for coordinating budgets, student financial aid and eligibility, fund raising, overseeing academics and ensuring NCAA compliance and rules education for DePaul’s 235 student athletes in 15 sports, among numerous other duties.

“Jeanne represents the best of DePaul athletics through her long-standing relationship with the university and its values,” Doyle said. “She has a strong management style guided by vision and decisiveness. She sees the big picture and has a thorough understanding of athletics in the academic environment. Most importantly, she is 100 percent committed to student athletes.”

Lenti Ponsetto’s top priorities are the welfare of student athletes and securing quality facilities and funding so they have the best opportunity to develop their potential. “We recruit student athletes who want to graduate and provide them with excellent support services to help them reach their academic and athletic goals,” she said. “Seeing a light bulb go on or steering someone in the right direction is the most rewarding part of the education process for me.”

In May of 2000, DePaul opened a $10-million Athletic Center, which serves as a practice, training and fitness facility, as well as a 3,000-seat arena for student athletes. Now, DePaul is seeking to improve practice and competition facilities for outdoor sports, such as track, softball, soccer and tennis.

“Jeanne has a deep and personal relationship with our student athletes,” said the Rev. John P. Minogue, C.M., DePaul’s president. “I’ve seen it over and over, both when a student is hurt and when a student does well. She has been a major contributor to our athletic success.” Nationally, Lenti Ponsetto serves as chairperson of the NCAA Division I Championships/Competition cabinet, the first woman ever to hold such a position. The cabinet’s responsibilities include Division I and National Collegiate Championships, playing rules, sports sciences issues, certification of postseason football contests and all-star football and basketball contests as well as exempted contests, personnel limitations and playing and practice seasons.

She has served on a host of prestigious NCAA committees, including membership on the Division I Working Group to Study Men’s and Women’s Basketball Issues and the Division I Budget and Television Committees, where she served as an advisor to NCAA President Cedric Dempsey on the association’s $200 million broadcast-rights negotiations with ESPN. She also was selected recently as an NCAA Champion, a program highlighting key administrators to act as spokespeople on NCAA issues.

Lenti Ponsetto has been well decorated for her outstanding work at DePaul and for her leadership serving NCAA members and student athletes. At the 1998 Final Four, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association named her Administrator of the Year. In addition, she was named the National Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women’s Athletic Administrators and was subsequently appointed to its Board of Directors.

Since taking on administrative duties at DePaul 20 years ago, Lenti Ponsetto has had a significant impact on the university’s intercollegiate sports scene. She introduced four women’s sports—indoor and outdoor track, cross-country and, in 1996, soccer—to varsity status at DePaul. She was instrumental in the 1983 formation of the North Star Conference, of which DePaul was a charter member, and served for two years as the commissioner.

With the formation of the Great Midwest Conference in 1991 and Conference USA in 1995, she took on new challenges. She was the first chairperson of the Great Midwest Women’s Administrators Committee and is also a member of the Conference USA Compliance Coordinators Committee. She has been tournament manager for the Great Midwest and Conference USA women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, rifle, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor track and men’s and women’s tennis championships when DePaul has hosted them.

Lenti Ponsetto earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health from DePaul in 1978 and is pursuing a master’s in public service administration at DePaul. A native of Chicago, Lenti Ponsetto began her association with DePaul athletics as a member of the tennis, volleyball and women’s basketball teams in 1974-75. In turn, she participated in softball when it was added as a varsity sport two years later. Her athletic achievements earned her a spot on the Blue Demon Hall of Fame.

She is married to former Blue Demon basketball star Joe Ponsetto, Chief of the Special Prosecution Bureau in the Illinois Attorney General’s office.