Jill Ward, who had been serving as Hawai'i Pacific's interim Director of Athletics after the retirement of J.D. Barnett in May, was named to the post permanently today, the school announced.

Ward, 31, is the youngest athletic director in the five-team Pacific West Conference that is comprised of Brigham Young-Hawai'i, Chaminade, Hawai'i Pacific, Hawai'i-Hilo and Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, Calif.

Prior to her promotion, Ward had served as HPU's associate director of compliance and business administration.

Ward earned her Ph.D. in 2000 from Loyola University in Chicago, where she also was an assistant women's basketball coach. She was the Assistant Director of Membership Services at the NCAA national office from 2001-02, and later served as associate director of membership services from 2002-04. Prior to that, she was compliance assistant at Northwestern.

Ward joined HPU last year as an athletics consultant and an adjunct math professor. She became a permanent hire by HPU's athletic department in March.

"I've got the global perspective," Ward said. "I've gone through the whole picture and now have the opportunity to apply all of those wonderful things on campus."

Ward said her priorities include having HPU's teams be nationally competitive, providing more support and recognition for student-athletes, and getting more community support for HPU.