In just three years at the helm, Georgia State University Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick has overseen the remarkable transformation of Panther Athletics, from the launch of GSU football to the enhancement of every sports program to the announcement that Georgia State will move to the Sun Belt Conference on July 1, 2013.

Levick presided over the Georgia State football program's highly successful debut in 2010, and now, after just two seasons, she has the Panthers poised for a jump to the Football Bowl Subdivision, a move that will continue GSU's ascent to the forefront of college athletics.

Her significant imprint extends to the basketball court as she lured successful head coach Ron Hunter, who revitalized GSU basketball in his first season and led the Panthers to their first postseason berth in a decade.

Levick's first three years on the job have also been marked by dramatic upgrades in facilities and fund-raising. Annual giving to the Panther Athletic Club has increased more than ten-fold, and the two largest gifts in the history of GSU athletics have been secured. Construction projects include the GSU Football Practice Complex, new facilities for strength and conditioning and sports medicine, and upgrades to every venue used by the Panthers.

And the progress continues. In 2012-13, sand volleyball comes on board as Georgia State's 19th sport, complete with a state-of-the-art facility on the GSU campus. The new sand volleyball complex is part of an ambitious Athletics Master Facilities Plan that Levick has developed to address the needs of every sport.

One constant amid the change is the success of GSU student-athletes in the classroom as the Panthers maintain a cumulative grade point average over 3.0 while completing more than 5,000 hours of community service annually.

In 2011, Levick was recognized by the SportsBusiness Journal as a "Game Changer" among women in sports business.

With a resume of experience and success at prestigious athletics programs across the nation, Levick came to Georgia State in March 2009 from the University of Maryland, where she served as chief of staff/executive senior athletic director, overseeing daily management of the 27-sport program. Her impressive career includes a total of seven years as director of athletics at Santa Clara University and Saint Louis University as well as nearly two decades in senior administrative positions at Maryland and Stanford University and stints with the Pacific 10 Conference and the NCAA headquarters.

Levick was named the 2001 Division I Athletic Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA). In 2005-06, she received the General Sports TURF Systems Athletic Director of the Year Award for the NCAA Division I Central Region, and she was recognized in both 1998 and 1999 as one of the nation's Top 25 Female Sports Executives by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. She is a past president of the NCAA Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association.

Before going to Maryland in 2007, she served three years (2004-07) as director of athletics at Saint Louis, where she led the transition from Conference USA to the Atlantic 10 Conference and served as the lead fundraiser for a new $80 million on-campus arena and practice complex. In 2006, she received the Carl O. Bauer Award as the top amateur sports figure in the St. Louis area.

Levick also spent four years (2000-04) as director of athletics and recreation at Santa Clara University, where she oversaw a major renovation of the school's basketball arena. The Broncos' women's soccer team captured the 2001 national championship, still the only NCAA team title in school history.

Prior to Santa Clara, Levick worked 12 years at Stanford as senior associate athletic director and senior woman administrator. She served as the primary administrator for 33 varsity programs that won 44 national championships and six straight Sears Cup titles during her tenure.

Levick previously served as assistant commissioner of the Pac-10 Conference, assistant director of communications and women's programs at the NCAA, women's gymnastics coach and associate athletic director at Slippery Rock University, and assistant gymnastics coach and synchronized swim coach at Indiana University. She began her career at Pattonville Senior High School in St. Louis, Mo., coaching gymnastics and women's track.

Levick is a 1974 graduate of the University of Missouri, and she holds a masters degree in athletic administration from Indiana University. She has two daughters: Heather, who is married to Michael Klass, and Melissa.