ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The American Midwest Conference has announced that Travis Rae has been named the 2017 AMC Sports Information Director of the Year.
 
Rae, a Rice Lake, Wisconsin native, joined William Woods (Mo.) staff in February of 2016, after spending the previous eight months as the Director of Communications with the National Amateur Sports (NAS) in Charlotte, N.C.
 
"I am humbled by the vote of my peers in the AMC," said Rae. "We have a group of dedicated athletic communication professionals and to be honored by them is amazing. I wouldn't have achieved this without the help of my GA and student workers who helped out. My goal each day is to promote the Owl brand and William Woods student-athletes. We have been successful as a department in doing so - thanks to the hard work of our coaches and student-athletes."
 
During his time at William Woods, Rae has assisted with the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship, NAIA Cross Country National Championships and the NAIA Men's and Women's Tennis National Championships.
 
Prior to working at the NAS, Rae served as the Sports Information Director at Eastern Oregon, where he was the primary contact for all 12 sports. Before that, Rae was an Intern for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), where he helped with rankings and was the media contact for six sports.
 
"We are very fortunate to have Travis as a member of The Woods family," said William Woods Athletic Director Jason Vittone. "He's a tireless, selfless worker. He is very deserving of this honor and I'm very proud of him."
 
Rae graduated from University of Wisconsin-Parkside with a degree in Sports Management. He spent two years interning for UW-Parkside. After graduating, Rae went to Graduate school at Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) and earned his master's degree is Sports Management.
 
The American Midwest Conference is a 13-school Division I conference with schools in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. It was chartered in 1986 as the Show-Me Collegiate Conference becoming the American Midwest Conference in 1994. The Conference sponsors 18 championships, nine each for men and women – baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's indoor track & field, men's and women's outdoor track & field, women's volleyball and men's wrestling.