Celebrating Women in Sport and Physical Activity - Profiles
Susan Korzinek, '83 - 2015 Honoree
Susan Korzinek was fortunate to have parents and high school coaches who believed in her and would set her course straight with a single sentence: You can do anything you set your mind on.
As a young professional in the male-dominated field of computing, Korzinek said those same words would often come back to her.
"That advice was engrained in me and I learned that I could take it from sports to work: 'You can achieve something if you want it badly enough,'" she said.
Korzinek now serves as director of Information Technology at Grand Valley. She graduated from Grand Valley in 1983 and worked in the IT industry for nearly a decade before starting her tenure at the university.
While at Grand Valley, Korzinek played one year of softball and junior varsity basketball. She left varsity athletics for intramural sports to better concentrate on academics.
"The first year was a transition, getting used to the practices and games, and keeping up with homework," she said. "I stayed on top of it and had the energy, but school was very important to me, so I wanted to concentrate on where I was headed for my career."
She continues to coach and play softball, and has played for the same women's slow-pitch team for more than two decades. "Most of the same women have been on that team for as long as I have. It's really special to see their daughters playing on the team, too," Korzinek said.
Korzinek has played nearly every position — even earning the nickname "Pig Pen" for her gritty play at shortstop — but it's pitcher she most enjoys. "The pitcher is the vocal leader, telling the team the number of outs and where the play is. I enjoy that," she said.
The leadership skills Korzinek learned on the field have easily transferred to the workplace, she said.
"When you are part of a team, you either lead or support the leader," she said. "You're also looking at the strengths of others, or helping them to find their strengths."
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