NAPERVILLE – Illinois Wesleyan Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications Katie Gonzales has been honored with annual awards from the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIIAA) and College Sports Communicators (CSC), according to announcements from both organizations.
 
Gonzales was selected as NADIIIAA’s 2023 Emerging Athletics Administrator at the NCAA Convention last Friday in Phoenix and on Thursday was chosen as one of the recipients of CSC’s Rising Star Awards in the college division.
 
Each of the selected NADIIIAA award recipients are being recognized for their impact at the institutional level, and in their communities for the 2022-23 academic year. The CSC Rising Star Award, begun in 2006, honors a CSC member with 10 years of service or less whose work, service, dedication, energy and enthusiasm to the profession make that individual a “rising star” in athletic communications.
 
Amid her fifth year as the director of athletic communications for the Titans, Gonzales became the first female to head the department, where she oversees all 26 varsity sports along with serving as the primary contact for men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, football, and softball. 
 
A 2014 graduate of Loras College, Gonzales began her career as a student intern in the sports information office, working under then-director of athletic communications Jimmy Naprstek and sports information director Jon Denham. In her senior year, she was elevated to the assistant director of athletic communications. Gonzales attended Eastern Michigan University, where she worked as a graduate assistant in the athletic media relations department, earning her master's degree in 2017. Upon graduation, she was promoted to assistant director of athletic media relations at EMU, where she worked before coming to IWU.