Lew Perkins has served as Director of Athletics at the University of Kansas since June 2003. He arrived at KU after achieving nationally recognized success as athletics director at the University of Connecticut. Kansas Athletics has experienced tremendous growth and success during Perkins' short tenure.

• In the fall of 2007, the student-athletes in KU's 18-sport program achieved unprecedented success in the classroom. Ten KU teams posted 3.0 grade-point averages or better and 229 student-athletes on active rosters (51 percent) posted a 3.0 GPA or higher, including 48 with perfect 4.0 GPA's. Kansas student-athletes earned a combined 2.93 grade-point average during the 2007 fall semester, setting an Athletics Department-record for a fall semester.
• The football team won the 2008 Orange Bowl, capping a school-record 12-win season, and the team has been bowl-eligible in four of the last five years;
• The men's basketball team reached the Elite Eight of the 2004 and 2007 NCAA Championships and has won the last three Big 12 Conference regular-season championships, as well as the last two Big 12 tournament titles;
• The women's volleyball team has appeared in three NCAA tournaments, reaching the second round in 2003 and 2004;
• The women's soccer team has appeared in two NCAA tournaments, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2003;
• The softball team won the Big 12 Championship in 2006 and reached the NCAA tournament for the second straight season;
• The baseball team won the Big 12 Championship in 2006 and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994;
• The women's basketball team reached the 2006 Women's National Invitation Tournament, its first postseason appearance since 2000;
• Several track-and-field student-athletes have won NCAA titles, and many have received All-America and All-Big 12 honors.

Kansas Athletics fundraising has reached unprecedented levels. Under Perkins, KU's $27-million athletics budget has grown to more than $50 million. That fundraising, including landmark apparel and corporate-partner contracts, has resulted in greater services for KU coaches and student-athletes, and numerous upgrades in KU's athletics facilities:

• The Booth Family Hall of Athletics, which opened in January 2006 in Allen Fieldhouse, celebrates the tradition and history of Kansas Athletics; a beautiful Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame exhibit was unveiled in the Hall of Athletics in February 2008.
• The spirit and aura of Allen Fieldhouse has been enhanced by renovations that were completed prior to the 2005-06 season, include freshly painted bleachers, new windows, new lighting and sound systems, and a new center-hung scoreboard, which includes a large, state-of-the-art video board;
• The baseball complex now includes an indoor hitting facility and a new scoreboard, complete with a large, state-of-the-art video board;
• The Anderson Family Football Complex and two new practice fields - adjacent to Kivisto Field at Memorial Stadium - are scheduled for completion in summer 2008;
• A new Aquatic Rehabilitation Center houses three Hydroworx pools that enhance rehabilitation efforts under the guidance and supervision of the University of Kansas Sports Medicine Staff.

Perkins has served on many NCAA, Big 12 Conference and other prestigious committees, including the Basketball Issues Committee. At the conference level, Perkins has served as Chair of the Big 12 Board of Athletics Directors and as a member of the Big 12 Television Committee. In spring 2005 he was named to the Board of Directors of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Additionally, he is a member of the Gatorade Board of Directors.

At Connecticut (1990-2003), Perkins was instrumental in guiding UConn athletics to impressive growth - athletically, academically and financially. His leadership influenced six NCAA Division I National Championships.

He was rewarded in 2000 as the inaugural winner of the National Athletic Director of the Year Award as selected by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal, in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

A native of Chelsea, Mass., Perkins was inducted into his high school Hall of Fame in 1989. A highly recruited basketball player, he played at the University of Iowa (1965-67) for Hall of Fame coach and KU graduate Ralph Miller. Perkins earned his undergraduate degree there in 1967.

Perkins served as Director of Athletics (1969-80) and head basketball coach (1969-79) at the University of South Carolina Aiken as that institution grew from a junior college to a four-year institution. He received his master's degree in education (1975) from the University of South Carolina. Perkins delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Education degree at USC Aiken in May 2005. Perkins also has served as athletics director at the University of Maryland and Wichita State University, and associate director of athletics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Perkins is married to the former Gwen Flaum. Like Lew, Gwen earned an undergraduate degree from Iowa and a master's degree in education from the University of South Carolina. They have two daughters - Amy (husband Brandon Macneill) and Holly - and two granddaughters (Caroline and Alexandra Macneill).