New Athletic Director Stevie Baker-Watson arrived on campus Monday Feb. 20 after obtaining the position in January. In only her second week, Baker-Watson finds herself in the thick of hosting the opening rounds of the 2012 NCAA Div. III women's basketball national tournament and keeping a full and busy schedule.
Sports editor Joseph Fanelli sat down for an interview with Baker-Watson about jumping into her new job.
Joseph Fanelli: How much of your work right now is split between you facilitating and you learning the ropes?
Stevie Baker-Watson: It's much more of the facilitation side. We're hosting the NCAA tournament this weekend, first and second round, and I've been able to do that at my previous institutions so I have a very strong framework of what needs to happen. I just need to make sure that it can happen here.
JF: With the NCAA tournament, you've kind of came in at an exciting time for sports...
SBW: Yeah, it's really exciting. I said to folks today, I take my championships seriously because I want us to have great events for our student athletes, so I'm making sure that I don't make assumptions about things especially because it's new people that I'm working with at a new institution. We're just going through everything to make sure we have a good championship.
JF: Have you had a chance to go and out and meet students?
SBW- Right now, I've met Charles Pierre [senior and student body president]. I've had a couple students contact me about doing radio. I'm actually going to meet with the student-athletic advisory committee next Tuesday, and then I'm going to start an informal meet-and-greet on Tuesday nights for any students that want to come by and want to get to know me, ask questions — that kind of thing.
JF: What's your impression about DePauw and the students so far?
SBW: Everybody's been really friendly. Everybody has been helpful. Folks haven't been shy. I've had [students] come in and talk to me about projects they are doing in class. They have some ideas and [they want to know if they] could run them by me, which has been fantastic. I've had folks just say, ‘My gosh, we've been waiting for you to get in here. Can we interview you? Can we talk to you?' Which is good, too.
JF: Beyond getting ready for this weekend, what's the big thing on the agenda for DePauw athletics right now?
SBW: There is a lot of refreshing that we're doing right now. What we're really doing is looking at every space that we have in Lilly and trying to make it usable for us. So we're looking at the Old Gold Room [DePauw's sports Hall of Fame] and want to make that becomes a functional space for us, so what do we need to do to make that happen
JF: And what's your prediction for the score of the game on Friday night?
SBW: I think that we will do very well. I'm siding with our Tigers because I really do believe that we're going to win two games. I really trust Coach Huffman and her staff that they are going to have our girls well prepared for their competition, and I hope things go our way.