Tangela Cheatham was hired in October 2017 as WVU’s Director of NCAA Life Skills Programming and was elevated to the Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Enhancement and Inclusive Excellence position in July 2021.
In her position, she is responsible for organizing and implementing Life Skills programs for all student-athletes including career services, personal health and well-being, financial management, leadership and diversity and inclusion. She will also oversee the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and assist with community outreach efforts.
Cheatham serves as the sport administrator for tennis and is the department's equity Title IX liaison.
Cheatham came to West Virginia from Iowa, where she served as the Career Specialist and Academic Coordinator. While there, she planned and implemented programming to assist more than 650 Iowa student-athletes in navigating life after college. At Iowa, she oversaw student-athlete job shadowing programs and assisted with student-athlete career preparation and networking events.
Prior to Iowa, Cheatham served as an intern with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) from 2015-16. At NACDA, she assisted and served the board of directors, officers and membership for CEFMA, ICLA, MOAA, N4A and NATYCAA.
A native of Detroit, Cheatham earned bachelor’s degrees in business administration and kinesiology in 2013. At Michigan, she worked as a student intern with Team Blue, Michigan football’s game day assistants group, in addition to serving as an assistant with the athletic academic support program.
Cheatham received a master’s degree in 2015 at Oklahoma in adult and higher education. During her time at Oklahoma, Cheatham worked as a graduate assistant in student-athlete development as well as an academic mentor. As a student-athlete development graduate assistant, she worked to plan and implement programming for OU’s 500-plus student-athletes. Cheatham also ran the daily operations of the athletics career center. As an academic mentor, she assisted student-athletes with time management and study skills.
