There are not many female head sports information directors, and the number has fluctuated and even gone down over the years.

According to the 2002 edition of the Acosta/Carpenter study, which looks at many trends regarding women in intercollegiate athletics, the number of female sports information directors in all divisions is 12.3, down from a 1998 high of 14.2 and down from the 13.1 found in 1994, the first year the study gathered that data (see chart below).

"I saw some research about athletics jobs and was disappointed to see that the number of women who held the SID job had dropped," said Mary Jo Haverbeck, a former associate sports information director at Pennsylvania State University who also taught journalism at Penn State and has done freelance work for USA Today.

"FAME was born because we all felt the turnover rate for women in the profession was higher than it ought to be. We thought it would be good to have a place where we could share with each other how we enjoyed our jobs and how we survive. We wanted to do something to bring women together in our profession."

FAME members are committed to encouraging and mentoring all women working in athletics media relations as a career. For more information, contact Mary Jo Haverbeck at mjh11@psu.edu or see the FAME Web site at http://www. personal.psu.edu/staff/m/j/mjh11/FAME4.html.