Kim Tatro is moving from her role as Lawrence University director of athletics and will transition to a new position at the university.
    Tatro has led the Department of Athletics since April 2020 and guided the Vikings through the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. She will take on a new role at the university tied to recently announced strategic initiatives, said Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Trustees Christyn Abaray.
    "I thank Kim for her longtime service to Vikings Athletics and Lawrence University as a coach and administrator and look forward to working with her in her new role," Abaray said.
    Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator Kim Falkenhagen will serve as interim director of athletics, Abaray said. A national search for a new director of athletics will launch shortly, Abaray added.
    "I've worked in a myriad of roles as coach and administrator for Lawrence Athletics, and it's been so rewarding to have worked with so many wonderful student-athletes over the past three decades," Tatro said. "I look forward to continuing my work at Lawrence in a new role that will help shape the future of the university."
    Tatro was part of the Lawrence's athletic administration since 2001. She served as Lawrence's director of athletics from 2002-05 and again for the 2008-09 academic year.
    Tatro joined the Lawrence coaching staff in 1993 as the volleyball and softball coach. She coached volleyball for eight seasons, picked up 91 victories and continues to hold the best winning percentage in school history.
     A 2014 inductee into Lawrence's Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame, Tatro coached the softball team for 27 seasons from 1994 to 2020. She racked up 424 wins and her combined total of 515 career victories is easily the most for any coach in Lawrence history. Under Tatro's direction, Lawrence won Midwest Conference championships in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and made appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament in 1998 and 1999. She was named Midwest Conference Coach of the Year eight times (2015, 2013, 2011, 2006, 2002, 1999, 1998, 1997).
    In Tatro's time as softball coach, the Vikings won the Midwest Conference North Division seven times (2015, 2005, 2003, 2002, 1999, 1998, 1997) and qualified for the four-team Midwest Conference Tournament 11 times.
    Tatro also has been a major figure on the NCAA Division III softball scene. The native of Naperville, Ill., served as chair of the NCAA Division III Softball Championships committee and spent more than a decade working with that group. She also has served as chair of the Midwest Conference softball coaches and has worked on various league committees over the past three decades.   
    A 1987 graduate of St. Norbert College, Tatro has twice been honored by her alma mater in the St. Norbert Hall of Fame. A three-sport star in softball, volleyball and basketball, Tatro was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. She was honored again in 2005 as a member of the 1984-85 St. Norbert women's basketball team that reached the NCAA Division III Final Four. Tatro also was chosen for the Waubonsie Valley High School Hall of Fame in 1993.