Amanda Braun enters her 13th full year as the Director of Athletics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2025-26. The first-ever female to hold that position at Milwaukee, Braun was named the 2025 National Girls and Women in Sports Day Champion Leadership Award Recipient in February of 2025. In August of 2023, Braun was selected as the NCAA Division I Nike Executive of the Year by Women Leaders in College Sports.
This past school year, the department enjoyed the most successful "For the MKE" Giving Challenge campaign to date, raising a record $120,441 thanks to contributions from 297 total donors, the highest totals in each category since the inception of the event.
Another highlight from the 2024-25 school year came in July, when Braun was selected to serve as the vice chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee – a committee she has served on since 2021 – moving to the chair position in 2025-26.
Two years ago, the department raised over $100,000 on “414 Giving Day” and had the 'Panther Future Fund' named as its official collective of the Milwaukee men's basketball program to support name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals for student-athletes. In addition, the Milwaukee Business Journal Real Estate Awards handed the title of "Best New Sports Facility" in the rankings to the Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin Center here on campus.
In March of 2020, Braun was honored as one of the Under Armour AD of the Year Award (ADOY) winners, given out by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). The ADOY Award highlights the efforts of athletics directors at all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities. Continuing on the national scene, Braun was recently appointed as a member of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and was honored by the Milwaukee Business Journal as part of its 2019 Women of Influence Award winners.
She also serves a key role in Horizon League administration, as Braun was named to the Board of Directors and Council position in August of 2021 and then became the first woman to serve as the Chair of the Council since the League redesigned its governance structure in 2017.
She announced a new partnership with Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin (OHOW) in December of 2018, the largest-ever for the department in terms of both length and financial value of the partnership. In addition, she was instrumental in securing the largest donation ever to Panther Athletics in the summer of 2019, also from OHOW, which came with naming rights to the Klotsche Annex that now serves as the primary practice facility for the Panther Basketball programs. Groundbreaking for the brand-new, state of the art OHOW Center took place in August of 2021, with completion wrapping up in July of 2023.
On the fundraising side of the department, Milwaukee entrepreneur Fred Sitzberger made a second pledge of $1 million to the UWM Foundation in support of Milwaukee Panther Athletics in May of 2022. During the most recent “United We Roar Giving Challenge” in 2023, the department had its most successful campaign to date, raising a record $67,229 thanks to contributions from 253 total donors.
Under her watch, Milwaukee student-athletes have extended their streak of recording a GPA of 3.0 or better to 48 consecutive semesters, as well as the 19th straight with a 3.20 GPA or higher and the 10th in a row of 3.30 or better. During the Spring 2024 semester, 105 Panthers compiled a GPA of at least 3.8, while 60 of those achieved a perfect 4.0 mark, as the department posted a 3.447 in the most-recent Spring 2024 semester.
Braun was named to the post in early March of 2013 before officially taking the reins of the department on May 1, 2013. In her tenure on campus, she has helped Milwaukee to new heights, starting by playing the lead role in bringing Panther men’s basketball contests back downtown. She also was instrumental in helping the University secure naming rights for UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, the downtown home of Milwaukee men’s basketball.
Braun helped coordinate the department's partnership with ROC Ventures, one in which the Milwaukee baseball team began playing all of its home games at the new facility, Franklin Field, at Ballpark Commons.
The department also received its first-ever $1 million gift under Braun’s watch, coming from alumnus Sitzberger in the Fall of 2016.
The Panthers headed into the spring season – and the final championships of the school year – in second place in the race for the 2024 McCafferty Trophy (and in first place for the women’s all sports award), given to the all-sports champion of the Horizon League. If the program can finish strong and close the deficit, it could claim the eighth McCafferty Trophy in school history – and a chance to extend its league record in that category as well.
Highlighting the fall season was yet another Horizon League regular-season and tournament championship from the Milwaukee women’s soccer team – while advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth year in a row. The cumulative totals now add up to 23 regular-season titles, 16 tournament crowns, and 17 trips to the NCAA Tournament in program history.
The Milwaukee men’s basketball team was at it again, riding a late-season surge to a memorable postseason run that came up just one game short of the NCAA Tournament after falling in the championship game. At 20-15 overall, it marked the 12th 20-win season in program history.
The Panthers have posted a stretch of finishing in the top three in the McCafferty Trophy standings a remarkable 18 times over 22 years, winning the award on seven occasions.
Highlighting the way in 2022-23 was championship runs from two programs who have turned themselves into the class of the Horizon League. Three runners finished in the top ten as the women's cross country team earned its third straight Horizon League Championship and fourth in the last five years. In addition, women’s soccer claimed its fifth straight Horizon League title and then nearly took down sixth-ranked Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, losing 3-2 in double-overtime.
The Milwaukee men’s basketball team enjoyed a revival under new head coach Bart Lundy and had a year to remember, playing into the postseason for the first time since 2014 while also winning a game in the postseason for the first time since 2006.
In the 2018-19 school year, women’s soccer returned to the NCAA Tournament, winning the Horizon League regular-season title for the 18th time in the past 19 years. The women’s cross country team earned its first Horizon League title since 1993 and the women’s basketball program finished up the most successful four-year stretch in school history. In addition during the 2018-19 year, the Panthers saw second place finishes from the men's cross country, men's outdoor track and field, women's outdoor track and field, and baseball programs.
The student-athletes continue to shine, topped recently by Kelli Swenson becoming just the fourth all-time to earn First-Team Academic All-American accolades in school history – amazingly one of seven academic honors received by Swenson following her senior campaign.
Recent academic calendar years have continued a run of amazing success. Fundraising totals increased for the fourth consecutive year in 2016-17, with gifts and pledges approaching $1.5 million dollars. Over Braun’s tenure, fundraising has increased 257 percent.
During the 2015-16 academic year, donations to Milwaukee Athletics reached unprecedented levels as the department topped the $1 million dollar amount for the first time ever. Under Braun’s leadership, the department also began a partnership with Learfield Sports and renewed an agreement with adidas to serve as the official footwear, apparel and accessory provider for all Panther teams through the 2020-21 school year.
Milwaukee student-athletes produced an Academic All-American for the third consecutive year in 2015-16. During the Fall 2016 term, Milwaukee student-athletes posted a combined grade-point average of 3.322, which marked a school record. Six MKE programs posted perfect Academic Progress Rate scores for the 2014-15 scoring period, the most recent released by the NCAA.
In 2015-16, the women’s basketball program had its best season in a decade, reaching the Horizon League Championship game and earning a WNIT berth. Women’s soccer returned to the top of the Horizon League standings under first-year coach Troy Fabiano and senior Brett Pozolinski was named First Team All-American after finishing tied for fifth in the high jump at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Fundraising skyrocketed under Braun’s watch and in 2014-15, the department enjoyed a 42 percent increase in gifts and pledges coupled with a 45 percent bump in total donors. During the 2014-15 academic year, 10 Milwaukee teams finished first or second in either the Horizon League regular season or league tournament races. In the classroom, the Panthers posted a cumulative grade-point average over 3.00 and for the second straight year boasted an Academic All-American. Milwaukee student-athletes also topped the 4,000-hour mark in community service for the second straight year, with 4,185 hours.
In 2013-14, Milwaukee won eight Horizon League regular-season and tournament championships, produced three All-Americans and earned the conference’s McCafferty Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s all-sports champion, for the seventh time in 14 years. Success was not limited to just athletics endeavors however, as Milwaukee student-athletes performed over 4,000 hours of community service and one Panther was named Academic All-America.
Braun came to Milwaukee from Northeastern University, where she most recently served as Executive Senior Associate Director of Athletics. No stranger to the Horizon League, the Brodhead, Wis., native also previously worked for six years at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where she rose to the position of associate director of athletics before departing for Northeastern.
At Northeastern, Braun served as the top administrator to the director of athletics from 2008-13 and directly supervised four sports programs, including men’s and women’s basketball. Additionally, she supervised Northeastern’s business office staff and oversaw its $10 million annual operating budget and $10 million annual athletics scholarships budget. Braun was also involved in fundraising, athletics capital projects and student-athlete academic compliance. She joined the Huskies’ Athletics Department as associate AD in 2006.
Braun also has served stints at the University of North Carolina and Duke University and has gained valuable experience on numerous NCAA and conference committees, including the NCAA Women’s Basketball Issues and NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey committees. In October 2015, she was appointed to the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee. The committee has oversight of competitive matters for sports other than football and men’s and women’s basketball and oversees the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee. Braun is one of 11 directors of athletics from across the country serving on the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee.
A former basketball player at Siena College, Braun graduated summa cum laude with a degree in psychology. She later earned a master’s in sports administration from the University of North Carolina.
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