Jane Meier has received several awards and recognition for her years of success as Northern Kentucky University’s athletic director. Now she can add a lifetime achievement award to her collection.

Meier was selected by the Division II Athletics Directors Association (ADA) to receive the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, an award given to an athletic director who has had success during their career at the Division II level.

It is the most prestigious award presented by the Division II ADA. To be eligible for this award, a person must be at least 60 years old, or have spent at least 25 years in collegiate athletics, with a majority of those years as an athletic director. The person can still be working or retired.

Meier’s time as NKU’s athletic director started in 1988 after previously serving as the head volleyball, softball and women’s basketball coach. She served 21 years as the athletic director and helped the athletic program grow tremendously. The Norse gained plenty of success under her leadership.

NKU won 20 regional titles and a combined 61 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) regular-season and tournament championships. The program also captured the GLVC All-Sports trophy six times. NKU had success at a national level by winning a pair of national championships (women’s basketball), making 13 trips to the Final Four, and earning 76 NCAA Tournament appearances during Meier’s watch.

Meier oversaw the basketball teams’ move into the The Bank of Kentucky Center in November 2008. The Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field and The Joyce Yeager Tennis Complex were also built during her time. Meier had also began planning the new soccer complex before she retired.

Meier also made contributions nationally to the NCAA by serving on a variety of committees during her tenure including basketball, volleyball and other topics.

Meier’s accomplishments have earned her honors such as the 2000-2001 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s National Administrator of the Year and the 2004 DII Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators. In 2008, she was inducted into the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is an honor and it was totally unexpected,” Meier said. “I spent all those years at NKU and it seemed like a lifetime.”

Story by John Minor