Lara Hillenberg
Director of Student Athlete Support Services
Lara Hillenberg grew up surrounded by sports, an experience that helped shape her passion for supporting student-athletes in both the classroom and the competitive arena. She earned her bachelor's degree in Communication Studies and a Master of Arts in Professional Communication, where she served as a graduate assistant and taught multiple sections of COMM 114.
Lara began her career in academic advising in 2010 at Texas A&M University and later worked at the University of Kentucky and Indiana University. Across these roles, she supported students from a wide range of disciplines, including STEM and international studies, and helped develop programs designed to strengthen student success and persistence. At Indiana University, she served as the inaugural advisor for the newly launched Intelligent Systems Engineering program.
In 2019, Lara and her family relocated to Muncie, Indiana, where she led the Academic Advising unit at Ivy Tech Community College - Muncie before joining Ball State University in 2022 as a Senior Academic Advisor. In that role, she supported upper-division students in Sport Administration, Exercise Science, Physical Education Teaching, and Aquatics, and served as an inaugural instructor for ID 298, a course designed to support students navigating academic challenges.
In July 2023, Lara was named Director of Student-Athlete Support Services at Ball State. In this role, she oversees academic support for all Ball State student-athletes. Under her leadership, the athletics department has maintained an overall GPA of 3.4 while continuing to push toward a 3.5 departmental average. During this time, Ball State Athletics earned the Mid-American Conference Institutional Achievement Award for the 2023-24 academic year and the department's first-ever Carmichael Award in 2024-25.
Outside of work, Lara enjoys spending time with her husband, their two children, and their new puppy. The Hillenberg family can often be found cheering on the Cardinals, attending country music concerts, or planning their next trip to Walt Disney World.