University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Field Hockey Hosts Career Symposium
October 9, 2008 | Field Hockey
Oct. 9, 2008
- Podcast: Carolina Field Hockey Career Day Symposium (.mp3)
Coaches generally tell their teams not to look ahead, but instead to remain focused on the next game. On a recent Sunday, however, UNC field hockey coach Karen Shelton helped her players look way ahead to life after graduation by participating in the second-annual Carolina Career Day Symposium. The Tar Heels gathered on Oct. 5 to hear from some of the program's many successful alums. Drawing from a wide variety of fields, the former student-athletes offered tips and guidance about career planning and much more during a panel discussion.
Former Carolina field hockey players who participated in the 2008 symposium were:
- Lisa Morin Bowers, a 1985 graduate who practices medicine as an anesthesiologist and serves as Medical Director of the Orlando Center for Outpatient Surgery. A physical education and health major, she was a member of UNC's first two ACC Championship teams, in 1983 and '84.
- Kim Knickerbocker Gey, a 1983 graduate who is a Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner at Lehigh Valley Hospital Emergency Department in Allentown, Pa. A zoology major, she was part of Karen Shelton's first two teams at UNC and is the mother of Jesse Gey, who earned All-America honors for Carolina as a senior in 2007 and was a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.
- Lori Bruney Johnston (1988), a 1988 graduate who is Senior Business Development Manager for ESI International, a global leader in performance management training and consulting, working in Chicago. A two-time All-America and three-time all-conference selection, she earned a double major in English and Radio, Television and Motion Pictures.
- Kathy Mulvey, a 1988 graduate who is International Policy Director for Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact), working Washington, D.C. A Morehead Scholar who majored in French and English and twice earned Academic All-America honors, she was a goalkeeper for the Tar Heels and still shares the ACC record for lowest goals-against average in a season.
- Jana Toepel Ulrich, a 2001 graduate who is Program Manager in Leadership Development for Vanguard and works in Malvern, Pa. A business major with a minor in French, she was a three-time All-America and two-time Academic All-America selection and a member of the 1997 NCAA Championship team.
- Barb Hansen Williams, a 1996 graduate who works as an Operations Producer for Remote Sports Television, mostly freelancing with ESPN. A science education major who taught high school before changing careers, she earned All-America honors in 1994 and played in the final four every year of her career.
In 2002, Hansen, Toepel and Bruney were honored as being among the top 50 players in ACC history.
Jan Boxill, Director of the Parr Center for Ethics and a UNC philosophy professor as well as the announcer for UNC field hockey games, served as the moderator for the event. The discussion included information about how the panelist decided on their careers, how they prepared for their current positions, what they wish they'd done differently while still undergraduates and the ways in which they feel like their experience as UNC field hockey student-athletes prepared them for career success.
"I'm delighted to host the second-annual Carolina field hockey Career Symposium," Shelton said. "I thought the event was outstanding. I'm so proud of our panelsts and their distinguished careers, but also the fact that they're so balanced in their lives and return to us as healthy, vibrant women who are such great role models for the current student-athletes on the team."
