Iowa State University Athletics
Giese Named Associate A.D. For Academic Services
06.02.2022 | Athletics, Academic Services
AMES, Iowa – Amber Giese has been promoted to Associate Athletics Director for Academic Services, the Iowa State Athletics Department announced today.
Giese has been a member of the Cyclone Athletics staff for the past 16 years, beginning her career at Iowa State in 2006 as an Academic Coordinator. In 2017, Giese was elevated to a director role.
"Amber Giese is a shining example of cultivating synergistic culture among her staff and coaches to promote academic achievement and holistic development among Iowa State student-athletes," said Dr. Charles Small, ISU's Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Services. "Amber's direction and collaboration with the coaches have contributed to over 10 consecutive semesters where Amber was in a leadership role over the academic services office and the Cyclones earned a department GPA of 3.0 or higher."
Iowa State's most-recent 93 percent Graduation Success Rate score was a school-record and the Big 12 Conference's second-highest mark, according to the 2021 NCAA Division I academic performance metrics released last fall. ISU's institutional GSR score has improved in each of the last seven years, and its 2021 mark of 93 percent established a school-record for the sixth-straight year, and was some four points higher than both the NCAA Division I and Big 12 averages. In addition, Iowa State's 98 percent GSR score for its female student-athletes tied for first among Big 12 institutions, while its male student-athlete GSR of 88 percent was third in the league.
Nine Cyclone teams led the Big 12 Conference with perfect four-year GSR scores of 100 percent—men's basketball, men's golf, women's golf, gymnastics, women's soccer, women's swimming & diving, women's tennis and women's track & field/cross country. The ISU women's golf recorded a perfect GSR for the 16th-consecutive year, while gymnastics had its 13th-straght 100 percent performance, softball its fifth-straight such effort and men's basketball, soccer and men's golf each ran running their streaks of perfect scores to four-straight years.
ISU football produced a program-record GSR of 88 percent, some seven points higher than the FBS average, to rank third in the Big 12. It also marked the sixth time in the last seven years Cyclone football improved its year-over-year GSR.
Giese is responsible for creating comprehensive academic support programming to ensure student-athlete academic growth, personal growth, and life skills. She is also responsible for collaborating and consulting with campus constituents to assess student-athlete academic progress and developing policies that adhere to NCAA, Big 12 and institutional eligibility standards.
Prior to her time at Iowa State, Giese served as the Director of Student-Athlete Academic Support at St. Louis from 2003-06, earning her bachelor's degree from Indiana State in 2001 and her master's from Radford in 2003.
