Wichita State President Don Beggs announced Wednesday, April 9, that Eric L. Sexton has been named athletic director at WSU, effective April 23.

Sexton replaces Jim Schaus, who this week took a job at Ohio University. The details of Sexton’s employment agreement are pending.

A 1987 graduate and former student-athlete at WSU, Sexton is the executive director for government relations and Board of Trustees at Wichita State, where he builds relationships with elected and appointed officials at the local, state and federal levels to advance the university’s finances and to provide for the academic and research needs of the Wichita region.

Under his direction, the university in 2008 achieved the distinction of being 15th in the country in directed federal appropriations for important programs.

"For 18 years, Eric has worked to develop positive relationships with people external to the university," Beggs said. "He has participated in the hiring of several coaches and in 2005 served as chair of our successful NCAA certification process. He is the right person to lead the athletic department.”

In recent years, Sexton has worked closely behind the scenes with many of the university’s major donors.

“I look forward to building on these experiences to continue a commitment to excellence for Shocker athletics,” Sexton said. “My goal is to maintain the high quality of our student-athletes — their characters and their futures, as well as their talents on and off the field — and to strengthen our already strong sports programs.”

His Master of Public Administration (1992) and Bachelor of Business Administration (1987) are both from WSU. From 1984 to 1987, Sexton was a student-athlete and two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference honoree on the WSU golf team.

He graduated with honors and went on to earn a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Kansas in 2002. He is the son of Shocker football legend Linwood Sexton and the late Delores Sexton of rural Halstead.

Eric Sexton, 43, is involved in the community, including board membership with various nonprofits in the Wichita area during the past 18 years. In 2002, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Presidential Commission for the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

He serves on the boards of the Kansas Golf Foundation and the FundaMental Learning Center. In addition, from 1998-2003 he served on WSU’s Shocker Athletic Scholarship Organization Board of Directors.

Sexton’s honors include the Wichita Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award (2000), the National Security Forum of the U.S. Department of Defense (1999), Leadership Wichita (1995), and the University of Kansas Black Faculty and Staff Council President’s Scholar.

This fall he will attend the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference as the nominee of McConnell Air Force Base.

Sexton, who becomes the 17th director of athletics since 1939, is an avid competitor in amateur golf at the regional and national levels. He and his wife, Kathy, reside in Derby.