UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft announced the hiring of veteran administrator Brandi Stuart as a deputy athletics director for administration and external operations, as well as organizational structure changes today. Stuart will assume her role on March 13.
In addition to bringing Stuart on staff, Kraft announced Kristina Petersen has been promoted to senior associate athletics director for communications and content, as well as the division of video services into creative video and live production video. Assistant AD for Media and Video Production Jim Nachtman will continue to lead the live production unit. These organizational changes, coupled with the previously announced creation of a mental health and wellness department, set the tone for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics' student-forward vision.
"As with any departmental transition, we have spent the last several months reviewing the department's overall operation, including budget optimization and reorganization of the department's structure," said Kraft. "With our student-driven approach, we found a few areas where we can strengthen our operation, some which we immediately address like the mental health and wellness, to benefit our programs and student-athletes in the long run."
Stuart will oversee compliance, student-athlete development and enrichment, athletics integrity, strategic communications, creative content and branding, marketing, and video production. She will also serve as the liaison to the Morgan Academic Center, faculty senate, Big Ten Network and student conduct.
Stuart comes to Happy Valley after spending two years at Texas Tech as the executive senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator. In her role at TTU, she was responsible for supervising the department's sport administrator program, Title IX and diversity, equity and inclusion education and initiatives.
"I have known Brandi for a long time, and she is a tremendous person, who shares the same vision I do for our student-athletes," said Kraft. "She brings a wide breadth of experiences with her and is a veteran sport administrator. Brandi is very forward thinking and will look at the student-athlete experience from all angles to find the result that will have the greatest benefit to our students. We are excited to have Brandi and her son, Parker, join us in Happy Valley!"
"It is truly an honor and a privilege to be joining Pat Kraft and the Nittany Lion family," said Stuart. "I have so much respect and admiration for Pat and his leadership, becoming a part of the Penn State family was a really easy sell for me and my son, Parker. The commitment to comprehensive excellence is evident throughout the department and I'm looking forward to getting to know the student-athletes, coaches and administrators I will have the pleasure to serve in my new role!"
Prior to her time at Texas Tech, Stuart served in a leadership role for more than five years at UCF. She joined the Knights as the senior associate athletics director for student-athlete welfare and development before being promoted to executive associate athletics director in 2018 and deputy athletics director for student-athlete success in November 2020.
In her role at UCF, Stuart was responsible for student-athlete welfare and development, academic services, sports medicine, sports performance, nutrition and counseling services. She was the campus liaison for all student conduct and Title IX, while also serving as the sport administrator for soccer, women's basketball and softball. She served as the chair of the NCAA Softball Committee from 2018-20, where she was responsible for leading the selection, seeding and bracketing of the NCAA Softball Championship. She also served on the NCAA Softball Committee for two years while she was at Florida State.
Stuart spent three years (2012-15) at the California Interscholastic Federation as assistant commissioner and senior director. She also held the position of associate athletics director for student services at Florida State for four years (2008-12). In her stint at Florida State, she managed student-athlete development and educational programing for new student-athlete orientation, the Peers Helping Athletes Transition program, the all-sports banquet, exit interviews, alcohol, drug and violence prevention educational programs, leadership curriculum and other initiatives.
Stuart also held positions as the director of life skills and community outreach at Alabama, assistant director of student services at Florida State and assistant director of championships at the ACC.
For the past 10-plus years, Stuart has been a consultant and facilitator for the Institute for Sport and Social Justice and the Huddle Up (violence prevention) program. She serves as a senior lead trainer for program delivery, working with intercollegiate athletics departments as well as NBA and MLB teams and various branches of the military.
Stuart earned her bachelor's degree in communications studies from Florida State in 2003 and her master's degree in sports administration in 2015. She was an All-American infielder for the Seminoles from 2000-03 and remains one of FSU's all-time leaders in nearly every offensive and fielding category. She was inducted into the Florida State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.
Petersen, who most recently served as the associate athletics director for strategic communications, will oversee communications, creative services, creative video and GoPSUsports.com, Penn State's official athletics website in her new role. She will also guide ICA's branding efforts.
Petersen is in her 17th year at Penn State. She spent the last three-plus years overseeing the communications strategy for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics' 31 sports, while also serving as the communications point person for Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft and Head Football Coach James Franklin. In addition, she is the sport administrator for the softball program and secondary sport administrator for the men's and women's gymnastics programs.
A native of Rochester, New York, Petersen acts as the Penn State Athletics department spokesperson who is responsible for creating internal and external messaging for the department. She provides leadership in a constantly evolving role in communications and content. In addition, Petersen leads the content creation efforts, working with the marketing and fan engagement, creative services and video departments at Penn State. Petersen regularly works with the campus strategic communications department on messaging which may have an impact on the University at large.
In her five seasons as the primary football contact, Petersen guided the day-to-day communications for the nationally-ranked Nittany Lions. Among her responsibilities with the football program, Petersen organized interviews and feature stories, handled all media requests, directed media training for the program's coaches and student-athletes, and worked with WPSU on the Emmy-winning TV show "Unrivaled: The Penn State Football Story."
As the Lady Lion Basketball communications director for nine years, Petersen was responsible for social media efforts for the program, as well as all media requests and content creation.
Penn State Among the Nation's Premier Athletic Programs in Comprehensive Excellence
Under the leadership of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Patrick Kraft, Penn State has one of the nation's most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men's, 15 women's). The Nittany Lions' 31 programs are tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution.
Nittany Lion students have posted an NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of program-record-tying 92 percent in the 2022 report, marking the sixth-straight record or record-tying performance in the classroom. Ten teams earned a 100 percent graduation rate in the most recent report. The Nittany Lions rank No. 4 among all Division I schools with 220 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-Americans all-time, including six honorees in the 2021-22 academic year.
Penn State student-athletes have led the athletic department to 50 Big Ten championships and 10 NCAA National Championships since October 2013. Penn State is one of only five schools that have won at least 10 NCAA Championships since 2013 and earned at least a 90 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the 2022 NCAA report (Stanford, Florida, USC, Virginia).
