April 15, 2004

Profile: Brandee Kopta-Tavano

Title and length of service: Program assistant, department of athletics; five-and-half years.

photo by Stephen Anzaldi

What do you do? I help with recruiting, mailings to boosters and making travel plans for out-of-town tournaments for our Olympic sports teams including field hockey, baseball, softball, cross country running, volleyball, wrestling, men’s and women’s golf and men’s and women’s tennis. I also write a lot of correspondence and memos.

Road to Northwestern: I was working part time and going to school at a community college. I decided it was time to consolidate my life, so I went to work for Northwestern and to school as a psychology major. I’m pursing a bachelor’s degree in general studies. I’m going to graduate in June — just around the time of the birth of my first child. Someday I hope to get a master’s degree in psychology.

What do you like to do outside of work? These days, I’m doing a lot of eating, sleeping and studying. I like to bowl. I love to read — especially non-fiction. Right now, I’m on a Dan Brown kick after reading “The DaVinci Code.” My husband and I love to hear live bands in clubs. We have a lot of friends who play in bands, so we try to go see them often. My husband is a high school teacher by day and a guitar player in a punk rock band by night and weekends. In fact, I planned his band’s summer tour last year. I’m good at organizing things.

Where do you live? We live on the north side of Chicago with our cat, Ava. I grew up in suburban Westchester. I have an older sister. She has two children, and I’m the godmother to one of them. My husband and I will celebrate our second wedding anniversary this June. He’s very romantic. He gives me flowers all the time.

—Marilyn Idelman Soglin