Amber Burdge was named the Director of Athletics at Western Colorado on April 15, 2026.
Burdge came to the Western Slope from New Mexico State University where she served as the Assistant Vice President for Student Involvement, overseeing governance, recognition, and compliance for more than 200 registered student organizations.
Prior to her position in Student Involvement, she served as the Deputy Athletic Director for Strategic Initiatives and Leadership from August 2024 to January 2026, as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sport Administration from December 2022 to July 2024, and throughout both positions she was the athletic department’s Senior Woman Administrator and Deputy Title IX Coordinator.
Within that time span Burdge was named the Acting Director of Athletics (Jan.-Oct, 2025) where she led the athletic program’s 16 NCAA Division I sports, managed a department budget of $34 million, and helped secure $3.2 million in capital outlay along with an additional $1.5 million in operating funds for the Aggies.
Her administrative history includes more than seven years as the Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Success Services at Louisiana Tech University where she earned her EdD in higher education leadership, four years as the Athletic Director at Neosho County (Kan.) Community College, and time at Texas A&M Corpus Christi as the Assistant Athletic Director for Academics/Senior Woman Administrator.
Burdge came to Western with a proven track record as an innovator and leader.
At New Mexico State she launched leadership programs for student-athletes and coaches, conceived and executed a women’s empowerment networking and mentor event for student-athletes, and coordinated with the Dean of Students to restructure the conduct process for the athletics department.
Her efforts at LA Tech in student-athlete success services saw the department-wide grade point average increase by 14 percent, saw the number of teams that achieved at least a cumulative GPA of 3.00 elevate by 175%, and facilitated the department’s best multi- and single-year APR scores.
Burdge advanced all athletic booster club operation at Neosho CC, creating fundraising events such as the “Night with Olympians” that raised over $9,000 in a single evening. She led the department’s modernization of its website (Sidearm) and apparel provider (Adidas) while developing and administering budgets of more than $1.2 million.
National recognition has been plentiful during Burdge’s professional career. She was selected to serve on several NJCAA national committees and was presented the Bryce Roderick Award of Excellence as a Region VI Athletic Director while at Neosho CC. In 2022 she was selected to the Women Leaders in College Sports Leadership Enhancement Institute, in 2023 was selected for the LEAD1 Institute, and in June 2025 was chosen to serve on the NACDA Senior Administrators Mentoring Institute.
