Dan Wilkes begins his 32nd year as a full-time staff member in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics at Pittsburg State University.
He begins his 15th year as Associate Athletic Director for Communications after serving three years as Assistant A.D./Media Relations and the previous 14 years as sports information director at his alma mater.
Wilkes leads the department’s communications team, which is responsible for PSU Athletics’ external relations efforts in media relations, web site content, publications and statistics.
His publications have earned 35 national awards from the College Sports Communicators (CSC), including seven Best in the Nation citations.
Wilkes has served for 27 years as a member of the prestigious CSC Academic All-America® national committee. He begins his 24th year as the national coordinator of Don Hansen’s All-America selection committee, and he begins his 17th year as chair of the PSU Athletics Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He also has served on the MIAA Hall of Fame Selection Committee since its inception in 2010. Wilkes also has served several years as a Central Region Committee Member for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA).
He was appointed to the d2SIDA National Board, which serves the NCAA Division II membership of the College Sports Communicators in July 2006. Wilkes also has served as the Strategic Communications Coordinator for the 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2024 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Prior to joining the Pitt State sports information staff full-time in July 1994, he worked as a student assistant in the office for a year under Shawn Ahearn, and also spent two years as a part-time sports writer for The Morning Sun in Pittsburg.
A Neodesha, Kan., native, Wilkes earned a bachelor’s degree in communication (news/editorial) from PSU in 1994.
He is married to the former April Reser (PSU, 2000) of Yates Center, Kan. She is a Vice President at GNBank in Pittsburg. The couple have a son, Blake, who is entering his freshman year at PSU, and a daughter, Bailey, 13.
The Wilkes reside in Pittsburg.
