Bushnell University

Sarah Freeman has been with the Bushnell athletic department since 2006. Hired as an administrative assistant, she quickly rose through the ranks to become the Athletic Business Manager and in 2011 was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director. Her title officially changed to Associate Athletic Director in 2015 and in 2023 received the additional role as Senior Woman Leader. 

Freeman is a critical member of the athletic department executive leadership team and serves as a liaison between the athletics department and the university administration in many areas, including student-athlete welfare, academic support and compliance, budget management, Title IX, assessment, and accreditation. She oversees academic and student-athlete support services with primary focuses on compliance, recruitment, and retention. 

As the department Champions of Character liaison, Freeman oversees many community service and engagement projects, and helps facilitate Bushnell's teams to fulfill their goals of having each athlete complete 20 hours of community service per year. 

Freeman also serves as Bushnell's Senior Woman Leader, a designation for a high-ranking female in each NAIA athletics department or conference office. The purpose of the SWL designation is to promote meaningful representation of women in the leadership and management of college sports. This role provides an identifiable female presence at each member institution with whom staff and student-athletes can communicate. The SWL serves as a key participant in senior-level management decisions regarding intercollegiate athletics on campus. 

In 2015, Freeman was awarded the President's Award for Exemplary Staff Performance and Campus Leadership.

Freeman is an active member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference, having served as an advisor and co-chair for the Cascade Collegiate Conference Association of Student Athletes (formerly the Student Athlete Advisory Council) since it's inception, and has transitioned to roles with both the CCC Senior Woman Leader group and the compliance administrators group. Freeman was named the first ever Chair of the CCC SWL advisory group upon it's creation in the fall of 2023. 

On a national level, Freeman was selected to join the first-ever NAIA Athletic Compliance Administrators Association Leadership Board. 

After graduating from Oregon in 2001 with a Bachelors degree in Sociology, Freeman spent four years in aviation technology and airport management. She received her private pilot's license and was pursuing her commercial license in Southern California when she decided to pursue a career in management over flying. She also went on to earn her Master of Business Administration from Bushnell.

At Bushnell, Freeman is able to combine her management skills with her passion for athletics. She is also passionate about travel and has co-led Bushnell mission trips to Cambodia, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico.