Ratcliffe Joins Razorbacks As Senior Associate AD

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Derita Ratcliffe has been named senior associate athletics director for Razorback Athletics it was announced by Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long on Friday. Ratcliffe has more than 20 years of experience in intercollegiate athletics and comes to the University of Arkansas from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where she spent the past eight and half years as Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator (SWA).

With Razorback Athletics, Ratcliffe will serve as the sport administrator for women’s basketball and provide supervision of the department’s student-athlete development program, including career services, the department’s sports performance services, including athletic training, strength and conditioning, psychological services and nutrition programs. She will be a member of Razorback Athletics’ executive and senior staffs as well as the department’s sports administrator group.

“Derita is an experienced and accomplished intercollegiate athletics administrator that will further strengthen our team,” Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long said. “Her experience working with student-athletes makes her a great fit with our coaches and staff. As a former Athletic Director she understands the challenges and opportunities we face and the importance of connecting with our students. Most importantly, Derita’s passion for the development of young men and women academically, athletically and socially will help us further meet our mission in developing student-athletes to their fullest potential through intercollegiate athletics.”

“I am excited to join the Arkansas Razorbacks family,” Ratcliffe said. “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to continue working in a capacity that focuses on the health and welfare of student-athletes. I would like to thank University of Arkansas Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long and his staff for selecting me for this position. The Athletics and University Administration at UAB have provided me with eight and a half years of great relationships and experiences for which I am forever grateful.”

In her tenure at UAB, Ratcliffe had sport oversight of football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, bowling, cross country, indoor and outdoor track as well as rifle. She served as an ex-officio member of the University Athletics Committee, coordinated the Title IX planning and implementation as well as coordinating strategic planning for the department.

A native of Portsmouth, Va., Ratcliffe attended James Madison University earning a degree in Psychology with a minor in English. She then attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, earning a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology.

While at Virginia Tech, she began to work as a tutor for student-athletes. Ratcliffe’s career in intercollegiate athletics began at VT as the Assistant Director of Student Life in the summer of 1994. She became an Assistant Athletics Director at Virginia Tech in 1997 and was charged with overseeing a plan designed to curb some of the off-the-field incidents that were occurring with student-athletes.

Ratcliffe spent five years at Virginia Tech before joining Long’s administration for the initial time, when he was serving as the athletics director at Eastern Kentucky University. As the Assistant Athletic Director for Administration and Compliance/SWA, she was highly versatile in working with many administrative areas. She rose to the position of Associate Athletic Director/SWA in the summer of 2001.

On December 31, 2004, Ratcliffe became the first female and the youngest person in program history to be selected as Director of Athletics at Kentucky State University, a Division II HBCU located in Frankfort, Ky. Ratcliffe served at KSU for nearly four years overseeing operations for a program which featured 13 sports.

Throughout her professional career, Ratcliffe has served as a mentor and resource for women and ethnic minorities among student-athletes, coaches and administrators throughout the country. She has served on numerous committees both on campus, at the conference level and nationally, including a stint on the NCAA Championships/Sports Management Cabinet. She currently serves on the NCAA Playing Rules and Operating Panel. Ratcliffe is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.