UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour announced today the promotion of Kristina Petersen to Associate Athletics Director for Strategic Communications. Petersen replaces longtime Associate Athletics Director Jeff Nelson, who retired at the end of July.
"I'm ecstatic that Kris will be leading our ever-important Strategic Communications unit moving forward. She possesses all the skills and expertise of a successful 21st century communicator, she's a strong and compassionate leader, and a dedicated Penn Stater. I'm looking forward to great things from Penn State Strategic Communications."
Petersen, who enters her 14th year at Penn State, will oversee the communications strategy for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics' 31 sports. She is in her fifth season as the football communication director after spending nine seasons heading the communications efforts for Penn State women's basketball.
A native of Rochester, New York, Petersen manages the day-to-day communications efforts for the No. 12/11 Penn State football team, creating internal and external messaging while working in collaboration with head coach James Franklin. Among her responsibilities with the football program, Petersen organizes interviews and feature stories, handles all media requests, directs media training for the program's coaches and student-athletes and works with WPSU on the Emmy-winning TV show "Unrivaled: The Penn State Football Story."
In her role as Assistant Athletics Director, Petersen has spent the last nine years in a leadership position in the strategic communications department, supervising five members of the communications staff and managing the communications budget. Petersen is also a member of Penn State's ICA Sport Administrator Fellows Program, as well as CoSIDA and the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).
Prior to coming to Penn State, Petersen spent two years at the Mid-Continent Conference (now Summit League), three years at the Patriot League and one year at the Big East Conference. Petersen coordinated conference communications efforts, serving as the media director for various championships along the way.
Petersen also assisted the communications staffs at six NCAA Women's Final Fours and the 2015 Big Ten Football Championship game.
A student-athlete herself, Petersen was a four-time letterwinner as a catcher for the Mansfield (Pa.) softball team. She was a two-time NFCA Scholar-Athlete and three-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete. Petersen graduated with a degree in broadcasting and public relations from Mansfield.
The Nittany Lions' remaining home schedule includes Big Ten games against Purdue (Oct. 5; noon - Homecoming), Michigan (Oct. 19 – Penn State White Out), Indiana (Nov. 15) and Rutgers (Nov. 30 – Senior Day).
Single-game tickets are available for the 2019 Penn State Football season presented by PSECU. Fans can visit www.PSUnrivaled.com, call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office weekdays from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
