The University of Minnesota athletic department has had some of the nation’s best female athletes pass through its halls, and for more than two decades, Michelle Traversie has been the one making sure those athletes get the recognition they deserve.

After serving as the primary contact for women’s basketball as an undergrad and then women’s hockey and soccer as a grad student at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Traversie took a job in the Minnesota athletic department in 2001, and has been promoting the Gophers’ female athletes ever since.

During her 20 years at Minnesota, Traversie has worked with nine of the 12 women’s sports programs the department sponsors. She has been the primary contact for women’s volleyball, hockey, rowing, swimming and diving and tennis, and has also worked with basketball, cross country, softball and track and field. She was awarded the 2016-17 AVCA Grant Burger Media Award, which recognizes an individual as the top contributor nationally to collegiate volleyball coverage and promotion.

Traversie has worked with hundreds of female Gopher student-athletes, and has helped promote two national championship hockey teams, three Final Fours and two Big Ten titles with the Gopher volleyball team and assisted with rowing in 2007 when the team won the Big Ten Championship. She helped promote Krissy Wendell and her Patty Kazmaier finalist award, as well as Sarah Wilhite, the 2016 Division I AVCA National Player of the Year.

Traversie – an assistant athletic director for communications at Minnesota – currently serves as the primary contact for men’s basketball, and she is the first woman in Minnesota history to lead Public Relation efforts for the men’s team. She is Minnesota’s contact for the Women Invested in Leadership and Learning program, as well as the Student-Athlete Development Program. Traversie serves as an intern mentor for the internship program at Minnesota. She also heads up communication efforts on all Big Ten and NCAA championships that the U of M hosts, including the 2022 Women’s Final Four.