University of Illinois Athletics

ATHLETIC ADMINISTRATION • 1966-2000

Dr. Karol Kahrs began her career at Illinois in 1966 as an instructor in the College of Physical Education and spent many years coaching women’s sports. In 1974, she moved to the UI Athletics Department to develop the University’s women’s intercollegiate athletics program as Title IX helped lead to changes in women’s sports nationally. At Illinois, Dr. Kahrs was promoted to associate athletics director and senior woman administrator.

Under Dr. Kahrs’s direction and leadership, Illinois was one of the first institutions to be reviewed by the Office of Civil Rights and found to be in compliance with Title IX guidelines in 1981. She retired from the University in 2000 after 36 years of service, including 30 years in the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.

During Dr. Kahrs’s distinguished career, she served as President of the National Association of College Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA) in 1998-99, and she was a member of numerous committees of the NCAA. She also proudly served on the Executive Board of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), which coordinated championship events for women’s athletic programs prior to the NCAA.

Dr. Kahrs served as the first chairperson of the Big Ten Women’s Athletic Administrators from 1974-76, and was a member of the committee that submitted the initial proposal to add women’s athletics to the conference in 1981. In 2014, Dr. Kahrs was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by NACWAA, awarded to administrators who have dedicated their professional careers to advancing women in sport. She is also a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Hall of Fame (2006).

Dr. Kahrs passed away in 2020 at the age of 80.