Kim Pate
- MBA, Business Administration, Western Carolina University
- B.A., Business and Organizational Leadership, Brevard College
Kim Pate serves as the vice president for athletics at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Hired in 2016, Pate has brought dynamic growth to the athletic department and serves on the president’s leadership team in support of the broader campus mission and strategic direction.
Pate has driven competitive excellence both on and off the field in her time at LR. Bear student-athletes reached an all-time high with seven College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-Americans during the 2019-20 season and every athletic team finished with a GPA above 3.0. The combined team GPA of 3.52 is also the highest in program history. In addition, Lenoir-Rhyne set athletic department records in 2019-20 with 140 earning the Division II Athletics Directors Association Academic Award (breaking the previous record of 123) and shattered the record with 283 on the South Atlantic Conference commissioner's honor roll (the previous record was 195 in 2018-19).
In the community, LR continues to lead the SAC in community service hours and ranks inside the top 20 nationally each of the past two years. Also, student-athletes raised more than $6,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2018-19, which ranked No. 17 in Division II.
A number of athletic facilities have been upgraded since Pate took over, including the opening of the $3.25M million facility with a state-of-the-art weight room, in addition to the Bears Club Pavilion, a new outdoor track, a fully turfed baseball field, renovations to the indoor practice gym, multiple locker room upgrades, renovations to Shuford Gymnasium and the upcoming Moretz Stadium renovation.
In 2021, Pate was promoted to be the first vice president for the Division II Athletic Directors Association Board of Directors. She previously served as an officer for the athletic directors association for two years before earning the promotion. She also has served on the National Association of College Director of Athletics Executive Committee, the NCAA DII Enforcement Task Force and the DII ADA Women’s and Minorities Mentorship Program.
Prior to LR, Pate served as director of athletics at the University of Illinois Springfield for five years, where she was responsible for the administration and oversight of a 16 sports NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics program in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
Before that, she worked at Brevard College in Brevard, North Carolina, as the director of athletics for more than three years. While at Brevard, Pate also gained collegiate coaching experience serving as the assistant softball coach for three years. During her first year of coaching, she helped lead the team to a program-record winning season of 28-22.