The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2011
Plonsky recently completed her 22nd year of association with The University of Texas and her ninth year as women’s athletics director, senior woman administrator and director of men’s/women’s athletics external services. She currently directs UT’s 11-sport women’s athletics program and is the liaison with multimedia rights holder IMG College, which performs corporate sponsorship sales and radio network/internet/television production and distribution. Since Plonsky assumed the role of women’s AD, the Longhorns have won two NCAA team titles (2005 Outdoor Track and Field and 2006 Indoor Track and Field) and 32 Big 12 Conference championships. Plonsky played a major role in the recent ground-breaking agreement between UT, IMG College and ESPN for the Longhorn Network, a television network exclusively dedicated to UT and UT sports coverage which will launch on August 26, 2011. She also supervises UT’s trademark and licensing staff, which works directly with IMG College’s Collegiate Licensing Company. UT generates more trademark royalties than any other CLC client. Plonsky earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Kent State University in 1979. She is a former editor of The Daily Kent Stater campus newsletter and was named the school’s outstanding journalism graduate (magna cum laude) in 1979. She also lettered three years in basketball (1975-78) and served as team co-captain during her junior season. Plonsky was a student sports information director at Kent State from 1976-79. Following her graduation, she worked as women’s SID at Iowa State from 1979-81 and first joined the UT Athletics staff in January 1982 as women’s sports information director. Plonsky was named BIG EAST Conference office director of public relations in July 1986 and spent seven years with the league in public relations and assistant/associate commissioner capacities. She rejoined UT Athletics in October 1993 as Associate AD for External Services under men’s AD DeLoss Dodds. On a volunteer basis, Plonsky serves as a board member of the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame, NCAA and USA Basketball. Her past NCAA committee work includes service on the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance (CAP), the NCAA President’s Task Force on Commercialization and five years with the Division I Management Council. Plonsky also is a former member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Executive Committee and the board of directors of the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA). She was NACMA president in 1999-2000, and in June 2003 was inducted into the NACMA Hall of Fame. In Austin, Plonsky is a member of the UT Libraries Advisory Council, the Capital Area Crime Stoppers board and the University Federal Credit Union supervisory committee.