Faculty member elected as director of National Athletic Trainers Association

Washington State University Associate Professor Kasee Hildenbrand has been elected to serve the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) as its District 10 director, comprised of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington state.

It is expected that Hildenbrand, who has been with the College of Education’s athletic training program since 2006, will serve five years in the post, until June 2027. She’ll then be expected to serve five more as past director.

Hildenbrand’s role will be to help maintain NATA’s overall wellbeing and interface with various committees. Second, she will help oversee some work being done with District 10 of the Northwest Athletic Trainers’ Association, including overseeing the board’s secretary and treasurer, and working with the five state presidents on issues specific to District 10.

Hildenbrand said that one of those issues, from a logistical and financial standpoint, is to have NATA visit each state and conduct a ‘legislative bootcamp,’ helping them focus on lobbying efforts for state licensure. 

“This has been something we have needed to do in our states for the last few years, but COVID-19, financial limitations and such have pushed it back, and it is a major priority now,” Hildenbrand said. 

It’s not the first time Hildenbrand has been actively engaged with NATA. Among other things, she has been a committee member on critical incident response; national convention planning; educator’s conference; professional development; as well as District 10 secretary. 

Through all those positions, Hildenbrand said the underpinning is to help athletic trainers feel valued.

“I want them to know they have a place in this profession, regardless of where or how they use their skills,” she said. “I want to bring the member benefit of the boot camps to every state, I want communication to be consistent and to be seen as a resource and connection between the district and the national association.”