Iowa deputy AD Barbara Burke will retire in 2023

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa deputy athletics director Barbara Burke will retire at the end of her current contract in June 2023, the athletics department announced Friday.

Burke, the second-highest-ranking athletics official in UI Athletics, said she is “thrilled that I will be able to end my career at this institution.”

“I have been blessed and am humbled to work with so many wonderful individuals, it is difficult to put one’s life work into words,” Burke said in a news release. “I am thankful for the lasting friendships and wonderful memories I will take with me.

Burke, 64, has been the deputy AD and senior women’s administrator since 2017.

The veteran administrator added chief operating officer to her title in 2021. She first joined the staff in 2016 as a senior associate athletics director for sport administration and event management.

During Burke’s tenure, four of 12 Hawkeye women’s teams have won Big Ten regular-season or tournament titles — basketball, field hockey, gymnastics and field hockey.

Burke has spent about three decades as an athletics administrator, including stints as athletics director at Eastern Illinois and interim athletics director at Wyoming and University of Texas at El Paso.

“I have had the honor of working side-by-side with Barbara both during her time at Iowa and when I was at Wyoming,” Barta said in the release. “She is one of the best athletic administrators in the country. She is a consummate professional, she’s a problem solver, and she cares deeply about student-athletes. I am grateful to be able to work with her for another year and then will look forward to celebrating her career as she moves into retirement.”

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