Joanna Pryor is in her fifth year as the Director of Athletics at Newman University. She was named the Director of Athletics on July 1, 2019.
In the 2023 season with Pryor's leadership, Women's Basketball made their first ever MIAA Tournament appearance in team history. Baseball appeared in their first ever MIAA Tournament appearance, first post season appearance since 2014, and earned their first win MIAA tournament play.
Pryor became the only female athletic director in the 14-school Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) and one of 57 current female Athletic Directors in NCAA Division II.
Under Pryor's leadership Newman has accepted full membership into the MIAA for 14 sports in June of 2022 after the school spent three seasons as an associate member. Pryor also spearheaded the Women's Bowling Program's move to NCAA Division II as Associate Members in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) in July of 2022.
Pryor enters her 10th year in an administrator role at Newman University. Prior to becoming the Director of Athletics, Pryor served as the Associate Athletic Director and Compliance Coordinator from 2011-19, while serving as the head women’s volleyball coach for two seasons (2009-2010).
She went 14-12 in Heartland Conference play and compiled 25 victories overall during her tenure, and was named Heartland Conference Coach of the Year in 2010 after leading the team’s first winning conference record as a member of NCAA Division II.
Before coming to Newman, Pryor was the volleyball coach at Cowley County Community College in Arkansas City, Kansas for eight seasons (2001-08). At Cowley, she posted an overall record of 218-93, won at least 20 matches each season, and took the Tigers to the NJCAA tournament in each of her last four seasons, including a national runner-up finish in 2005 and a third-place finish in 2006.
Pryor played volleyball for Cowley during the 1996 and 1997 seasons, earning All-Jayhawk East and All-Region 6 honors in both seasons as an outside hitter. She graduated from Wichita State University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sport administration.
Pryor and her husband, Nathan, have a son, Calvin, and two daughters, Logan and Jordan.
