Dr. Randi Napientek was named NIU Senior Associate Athletic Director/Director of Student-Athlete Academic Support Services in September of 2023. In this role, she oversees the office that is responsible for the academic success of over 400 student-athletes as well as the Huskie Experience Program.
Napientek joined the NIU Student-Athlete Academic Support Services (SAASS) staff in 2017 as the Associate Director, receiving two promotions prior to stepping into her current role. During her time in SAASS, NIU Athletics has had multiple semesters with record-breaking grade point averages. Napientek has been the lead support for the NIU Football team, guiding them to multiple record breaking semesters, including the highest GPA in the program‘s history. She has also assisted the NIU Women’s Basketball program to a team GPA that ranks in the top-three nationally, marking the third consecutive year they have been in the top 10 of the WBCA Division I Academic Top 25 and is the fifth straight season they have been on the Top 25 Honor Roll. Napientek personally worked with five CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, two of whom received the honor twice during their Huskie careers.
This is Napientek's second tenure with NIU Athletics as she began her career as a member of the staff of what is now known as the Huskie Athletic Fund (HAF) in 2006-07. She was part of the team that helped finish the $14 million fundraising efforts for the Yordon Center and helped run the Huskie Pup Club program as well as special events for the department.
Prior to her role with the HAF, Napientek worked in NIU Athletics as a Graduate Assistant and Intern in the Marketing Department from 2001-06. She worked with Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball as well as Softball on marketing and game promotions. She was part of the team that helped create the Cram the Convo promotion and also helped develop the “Huskie HoopTime” wristband project helping support “Hoops 4 Troops” that raised over $13,000 for the Illinois Military Family Relief Fund and earned the project the Illinois Lieutenant Governor’s Medal.
Before coming to SAASS, Napientek worked in the Office of Student Academic Success from November 2009 to March 2017, receiving two promotions during her time with that office. Her duties there included coordinating student success and retention programs to help improve NIU's four-year graduation and retention rates. She also has a background in enrollment management.
A native of DeKalb, Napientek is a triple graduate of NIU and earned her Bachelor's degree in Marketing (’05) and both her Master’s (’07) and Doctorate (’17) in Adult and Higher Education. She and her husband Ray, a former North Central College Baseball player and former NIU Baseball Coach, have two daughters, Kara and Katy.
