Rhonda Lundin Bennett, senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at the University, will serve as chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Sport Committee during the 2017-18 academic year, the NCAA announced recently.

Now serving her third year as a member of the committee, Bennett will succeed current chair Terry Gawlik, senior associate athletics director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Bennett will officially become the 19th chair of the committee when her term begins Sept. 1. 

"I am honored to be chosen to lead our committee as we work to make the NCAA championship experience the best it can be for women's basketball student-athletes, coaches and fans," Bennett said.

In her 11th year at the University, Bennett oversees three of the Wolf Pack's 16 sports (women's basketball, women's golf and baseball) as well as the school's sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and video programs. She also serves as a member of the senior administrative team and acts as a liaison to the Mountain West Conference.

She is a member of the Mountain West Recognition Committee and served as a member of its Executive Committee and chair of the Mountain West Senior Woman Administrator Committee in 2013-14.

Bennett joined the Wolf Pack staff in September 2005.

Before moving into sports administration in 2010, she headed Nevada's athletics communications efforts. She moved from assistant director to associate athletics director in five years and served as the primary media relations contact for the Wolf Pack men's basketball team from 2005 to 2009. The team was nationally ranked for two years, earned four postseason appearances and won four Western Athletic Conference regular-season championships.

Before Nevada, Bennett spent six years at Arizona State University, where she was the primary media relations contact for the Sun Devils' nationally ranked women's basketball and women's golf teams. She also served as the assistant contact for Arizona State's nationally ranked football squad and edited the school's award-winning football media guide.

A native of Hillsboro, Ore., Bennett also spent time at Kansas State University and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in her career. She earned her bachelor's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1996, where she got her start in college athletics as a student intern in the Wildcats' sports information office. 

Active in the community, Bennett served on the board of directors of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada from 2011 to 2016. 

"With her communications and administrative background, Rhonda has a unique perspective that has served her well with the committee and will make her an outstanding chair," said Anucha Browne, NCAA vice president for women's basketball championships. "We have been fortunate to have had exemplary leadership from our committee chairs over the years, and Rhonda will be the next in line to continue that tradition."