UALR Sports Information Assistant Patrick Newton has been promoted to assistant sports information director, Athletic Director Chris Peterson has announced.

A 2006 graduate of the University of Kentucky, Newton’s duties will include serving as the primary contact for the women’s basketball, soccer, track and field, and cross country teams.

Newton joined the Department of Athletics at the start of the 2010-11 season and spent the past two years with the sports information department as a full-time intern. In that role, he handled all media relations duties for the soccer, tennis, and swimming and diving programs, while also serving as the secondary contact for Trojan baseball.

In his first year at UALR, Newton also assisted with media relations responsibilities as the men’s basketball team advanced to the 2011 NCAA Tournament. This past season, Newton was a key member of the media relations staff as the department hosted two rounds of the 2012 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship at the Jack Stephens Center. In addition to his many duties at UALR, he served on the media relations staff at the 2011 and 2012 Sun Belt Conference Basketball Championships.

Newton came to UALR after spending the 2009-10 season as a media relations Intern at Cal State Northridge, where he assisted in the day-to-day operations of CSUN’s media relations department, while also helping to maintain CSUN’s athletics website. In addition to his experiences at CSUN, Newton worked as a videographer for Inspire Entertainment while living in California.

He earned bachelor’s degree in economics at Kentucky in 2006 and a master’s degree in sports administration from Eastern Kentucky in 2009. He is a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and the North American Society for Sports Management (NASSM).