From behind the scenes, Femovich works at play

Carolyn Schlie Femovich may not have as high a profile as her boss, Athletic Director Steve Bilsky. But although she often finds herself in the background, the senior associate athletic director -- Bilsky's right-hand woman -- plays a principal role in the day-to-day departmental business. "I see my role as the facilitator, part of the team, to work with the coach of a particular sport and then collectively with coaches in general to get the job done," Femovich said. She said in contrast to Bilsky's duties, which include "an awful lot of external relations," her own job description includes only a minimal amount of alumni interaction. Femovich and Associate Athletic Director Elton Cochran-Fikes are each responsible for half of Penn's approximately 30 varsity sport programs. "It's everything from budget to schedules to student-athlete issues," Femovich said, noting that she works closely with coaches to ensure that the Athletic Department meets their needs. Femovich grew up in southern Florida and headed to Indiana for her education, receiving her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Valparaiso University and Indiana University at Bloomington, respectively. Her next stop was Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where she coached women's basketball and tennis, coordinated women's athletics and taught health science. "At the time, I was very much interested in coaching," Femovich said. "It was at Gettysburg College that I got much more into administrative work." Penn lured Femovich to its athletics administration in 1982 with the prospect of running both men's and women's sports -- a rarity at the time. "The standard then was [that] women did women's sports, the men did the men's sports and never the two shall meet," Femovich said, noting that Penn had recently merged its programs when she arrived. Femovich was appointed to her current position in 1986 after then-Athletic Director Paul Rubincam reorganized the department. In her oversight of varsity sports, Femovich said she focuses on staying on top of the Ivy League competition. "I'd like to think that every one of the sports that I'm involved with -- that even the sports I'm not involved with -- are going to be contending for winning an Ivy championship once every four years," Femovich said, adding that success is "important for the student-athlete experience." Femovich said the goal of the department's current reorganization attempts is "to make us efficient and successful." This effort has led to "some restructuring of our administrative staff," as well as the recent installation of former men's heavyweight crew coach Stan Bergman as head of the entire crew program, she said. Although Femovich said she enjoys her job and doesn't plan to leave the University anytime soon, she admitted that she might accept another opportunity that "would challenge me or provide a new experience." "It's never boring around here," Femovich said. "We're always challenged and there's always new things to get involved with day in and day out." Femovich added that she thinks University President Judith Rodin has demonstrated a substantial commitment to Penn athletics. "I've seen a lot of change in 14 years and I think we're definitely on the right track," Femovich said. "I think we have a president who cares about athletics and recreation in all the right ways."