DOVER — Delaware State has found its next athletic director within its own athletic department.

Alecia Shields-Gadson, who has been at the university since 2016, was announced as the school’s new AD this afternoon.

She has been Delaware State’s interim athletic director since Dr. D. Scott Gines retired in the spring.

Shields-Gadson firs came to the school as Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance and Senior Woman Administrator. In 2020, she added the newly created position of Deputy Athletics Director to her title, assigning her additional responsibilities as the department’s Diversity and Inclusion Designee, fulfilling a new NCAA requirement.

“Great athletic programs rely on building depth among the student-athletes, the coaching staff, and the administrators,” school president Dr. Tony Allen said in a statement. “Alecia is knowledgeable, talented, and (a) highly-motivated individual. She’s familiar with all our initiatives and is already the driving force behind many of them. I am pleased to have an Athletic Director of her caliber to step into the role without missing a beat.”

Shields-Gadson has nearly 30 years of experience in intercollegiate athletics as a senior level administrator and head coach. Prior to joining the Delaware State family, she was an athletics administrator at Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival Coppin State, as well as at Alcorn State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

While at Coppin State, Shields-Gadson twice served as interim director of athletics.

As a student-athlete, she competed in track & field at Southern University, serving as team captain. A native of New Orleans, La., she earned a bachelor’s degree in English/Communications from Southern in 1992 and a master’s degree in Athletic Administration and Secondary Education/Physical Education from Alcorn State in 1995.

Currently she is enrolled in Delaware State University’s Educational Leadership doctoral program.

“There is great energy right now at Delaware State and I’m pleased to guide a team of great coaches and staff, along with over 400 champions and scholars who compete in 19 sports as we commence our journey to become the top diverse and contemporary HBCU in the country,” she said in a press release.

“Together, we will work to continue to ensure that our legacy and traditions are carried forward and our presence is felt in the State of Delaware and beyond.”