San José, Calif. - The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) recognized members receiving 25-Year Awards on Friday and longtime Associate Media Relations Director Amy Villa was listed among the awardees.
Villa will be recognized in a virtual ceremony hosted by CoSIDA in June. She is one of two women with current connections to Mountain West schools to receive the award this year.
A total of five women and 11 men qualified for the 25-Year Award in 2021.
"Amy Villa cares deeply for our student-athletes and coaches and the work she does often goes uncelebrated," said Marie Tuite, San Jose State University Athletics Director. "She's the first one to say her work is "all about the student-athletes." When we've hosted conference, NCAA and special events, she's made important contributions in a supportive role. Amy's been an integral part of moving our Athletics program forward, and I want to congratulate Amy. She is deserving of a CoSIDA 25-Year Award."
An active member of CoSIDA, Villa is a member of the Academic All-America Committee and is one of just 170 members that votes for all the Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. She is also a member of the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and the Association for Women in Sports Media.
Including her years as an intern, Villa is in her 27th year in athletics media relations at San José State. This marks her 28th year in the field overall, a stretch that included one year (1995-96) in the Minnesota Women's Sports Information Department.
"We are thrilled and honored to have our own Amy Villa receive CoSIDA's 25-Year Service Award for 2021," said Blake Sasaki, San Jose State University Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Relations and Strategic Revenue Generation. "Amy has been a dedicated athletics staff member who deeply cares about our student-athletes and it shows in her work. Congratulations to a great Spartan!"
Since CoSIDA was founded in 1957, Villa becomes one of only 30 women nationally to earn this award.
Villa, a 1993 graduate of Capital University (Bexley, Ohio), received a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech communications. She got her start in sports information as a student at Capital as she worked all four years in the department and traveled with the women's basketball team to the 1993 NCAA Division III Final Four where the Crusaders finished as the national runners-up.