About Karen Weaver, EdD, President and CEO

Since her arrival in 2006, Karen Weaver has transformed the Penn State Abington Athletics program. Working alongside Abington’s chancellor and CEO, Dr. Karen Wiley Sandler, and Senior Director of Student Affairs, Gale Siegel, and many members of the campus community, Penn State Abington has undergone a dramatic re-birth as a member of the North Eastern Athletic Conference, the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, and a provisional member of the NCAA in Division III.

Penn State Abington’s Athletics program has added 6 new teams, 8 new head coaches and over 100 new athletic opportunities for student athletes in just three years. Realizing the campus needed updated facilities for the teams to compete, Abington’s campus leadership team embarked on an ambitious timetable of improving its indoor and outdoor facilities to benefit the student athletes and the local community. In addition to updating the recreational and fitness facilities with state of the art equipment, Penn State Abington will invest over $5 million in nearby outdoor fields as part of a partnership with Abington School District. A new artificial turf, field house, softball field and baseball field are all slated for either ground breaking or upgrades in the near future.

Taking advantage of her passion for social media, Weaver has launched a Twitter feed (@abingtonsports), a Facebook page (Penn State Abington Athletics) and a You Tube channel (AbingtonSports) celebrating all 14 varsity teams and adding value to the student athlete experience. The Intramural sports program also features its own Facebook  page (Penn State Abington Intramurals).

Dr. Weaver sits on the NEAC Conference management team, serving as the Conference Senior Woman Administrator and Vice President. She has also served on Abington’s Campus Strategic Plan committee, the campus Multi-Cultural Committee, and co-chairs the campus “No Place for Hate” Committee.

Off campus, Weaver is nationally recognized as an expert in broadcast rights, media and branding strategies, and social media. Her expertise in the area of institutional advocacy for protection of current and future video content rights has been called visionary. She has spoken about collegiate broadcast media rights and the Big Ten Network both nationally and internationally, including the University of the Sorbonne in Paris, at the NCAA Convention, and to collegiate sport conferences around the United States.

Weaver has been quoted, published and interviewed by some of the leading news outlets in the world, including: BBC, USA Today, Orlando Sentinel, New York Times, Indianapolis Star, Detroit Free Press, and Minnesota Public Radio. She has written extensively about the financial issues facing higher education and athletics in leading trade publications including Athletic Management Magazine, Change Magazine and Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal. Her Twitter feed @collegeathlete has been recognized as one of the Top 100 for College Sports Fanatics to follow, and her followers include writers and editors from Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Orlando Sentinel, Sports Business Journal, The New York Times, and sports management faculty around the country.

She is a sought after speaker for athletic recruiting events, academic conferences and graduate sports management classes. She is also a color analyst for the Big Ten Network.

Prior to her arrival at Penn State, she provided department wide leadership as an Associate Athletics Director at the University of Minnesota, a program that supports 750 student athletes, 25 varsity sports and 215 full time employees. A member of the senior management team, Weaver was responsible for all personnel matters in the department, chairing or serving on numerous search committees. For several years she was the Chief Financial Officer, overseeing an $11.8 million budget, and managing the day to day finances of the department. She also oversaw six sports, four of which were Big Ten Conference Champions. She has also been an athletics director at two other institutions.

Weaver spent 16 years as a collegiate head field hockey coach, with 10 of those years as a coach in NCAA Division I. Her teams made 5 post season appearances and won an NCAA National Championship while going undefeated, the first team to do so. She has also been a top national and international coach, and twice was a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Field Hockey Association. She served as the broadcast announcer and assistant producer for men's and women's field hockey at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

Weaver was raised in Abington, PA and currently resides in Philadelphia.

Ed.D. University of Pennsylvania Higher Education Management
Dissertation: "The Launch of the Big Ten Network: How 11 Universities Created Their Own Television Network and Changed the Landscape of College Sports" 
M.S. Purdue University Sports Sociology/Administration
B.S. Lock Haven University Physical Education/Biological Sciences

Follow Karen Weaver on ...



Michigan at Penn State Field Hockey Highlights

Penn State Abington in the News: "On Offense"

Dr. Karen Weaver speaks at NCAS Annual Spring Mid-Atlantic Conference

Athletics Director Examines Impact of Social Media - article from athleticmanagement.com

Weaver Travels to South Africa; Donates Uniforms



Higher Education Administration with Social Media: Including Applications in Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, Alumni Affairs, and Career Centers (Cutting Edge Technologies in Higher Education)