Karen Stromme served in many roles during her 40 years with the University of Minnesota-Duluth athletic department, and in each role she made sure that she left the Bulldog athletic department - and Division II - better than she found it.

Stromme served as the school’s senior associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator for 18 years, and recently retired following a second stint as the interim athletic director. She was the Student Athlete Advisory Committee advisor, and the group was awarded the inaugural Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference SAAC Cup in 2017-18. Stromme also served as a senior member of the Bulldogs’ athletic staff and the sport administrator for volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball.

In July 2019, Stromme - who served on the NCAA Division II Management Council, Committee on Infractions and Membership Committee, among others - was selected as the NCAA Division II recipient of the Women Leaders in College Sports Administrator of the Year award. She was also instrumental in the Bulldogs being recognized with the 2022 NCAA Division II Award of Excellence.

Stromme spent 21 seasons as the Bulldogs’ head women’s basketball coach, and stepped away in May 2005 as the program’s winningest coach. She posted 21 consecutive winning seasons and finished her career 440-184 with 12 NSIC titles, four NSIC Tournament Championships, eight NCAA Division II North Central Region playoff berths and seven appearances in the NAIA National Tournament.

Stromme is a past president of the NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, past chair for the Kodak All-American Team Selection Committee and chairperson of the USA Basketball Team Selection Committee for the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. She was part of the official travel party for Team USA when it won the gold medal in women’s basketball at the 2000 summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

For her many years of outstanding service and dedication to athletics, Stromme was inducted into the St. Olaf Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994, the Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008, and three years later the UMD Athletics Hall of Fame.