June 24, 2010

DEKALB, Ill. - Celebrate the career of Deputy Athletics Director Robert Collins today from 4-7 p.m. at his retirement party in the second floor atrium of the Yordon Center.

Collins, who has dedicated 20-plus years of service to Northern Illinois University, is retiring at the end of the month. He first arrived at NIU in 1986, spending three years as an assistant men's basketball coach (1986-89) and returning to DeKalb in 1992 to serve as an administrator the last 19 years. He has been responsible for the oversight of the day-to-day operations of football, men's basketball and softball, as well as the welfare of NIU student-athletes.

Prior to joining Northern Illinois, Collins spent 15 years as an educator and basketball coach in the Chicago Board of Education. He was inducted into the Chicago Public School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 and was honored by NIU's Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities as one of the recipients of the 2010 Deacon Davis Award.

A 1971 graduate of Tennessee State University, Collins received his master's degree from National-Louis University in 1984. He is married to the former Kitty Sanders and has three children, Dori, Paige and Bobby.

-NIU-