Staff : Suzanne Vick

Contact
slspragu @ iupui.edu
317-274-7711

Office
Administration Building (AO)
355 N. Lansing Street, Suite 136
Indianapolis, IN 46202

Coordinator of Campus Pride, Spirit and Tradition

Around here, I'm simply known as "Spirit Girl," working with all that is campus Pride, Spirit, and Tradition. The job is so broad, it's hard to put it in a neat and tidy box. On any given day, you might find me planning a pep rally, brainstorming about promotions, working with student groups about adding spirit to an event, or scheduling photo shoots.

I work on several special projects, but I'm also available as a resource for campus units who are interested in injecting campus spirit into their event. I also manage the Cheerleaders, Dancers, Mascots, and Pep Band, and serve as a liaison between Communications & Marketing and the campus community.

Before I came to the Office of Communications & Marketing last fall I was working on the other side of New York Street in the Athletics Department. There I performed administrative duties, and specialized in event planning, promotions, fundraising, and marketing initiatives. Prior to joining the IUPUI staff I worked as a Sales Assistant at the Indianapolis Business Journal. And somewhere, in a past life it seems, I graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Secondary Education, Social Studies and actually taught high school for a brief stint. In high school, I was an Alexandria Tiger, a close relative of the Jaguar, and strangely enough our colors were also red and gold, so I guess it was destiny to land here at IUPUI and my favorite colors will remain red, gold and black through and through.

Favorite Job Duties/Projects

One of my favorite parts of my job is promoting basketball season, mainly because I love seeing the results of the efforts. During the 2006 season, the last four games were all sold out. It was a beautiful thing to see a sea of red and gold painted faces cheering and even storming the court when we won the Mid-Con regular season championship. I also really enjoyed coordinating the first ever Jaguars Jamboree. This was our version of "midnight madness" held at 7pm in the Jungle. It was an exciting event complete with the participation of coaches, student athletes, alumni, student organizations, cheerleaders and dancers, and the IUPUI Pep Band. It was a successful event that everyone could take a lot of pride in because it jumpstarted the basketball season with a big bang and all the proceeds benefited the American Red Cross for the Hurricane Katrina Relief fund.

When I'm not at work

I love to spend time with friends, family, and my husband, doing just about anything, including but not limited to: going out to eat, bowling, Indians games, poker, karaoke, euchre, cornhole, backyard BBQ's, movies, Colts games/tailgates, Trivial Pursuit, Catch Phrase, Pacers games, etc. - with the tamer of those activities reserved for the family time of course.

Favorite Drink(s)

"Do you like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain?" So many drinks, so many occasions. If I'm at Starbuck's it's got to be a Grande Carmel Macchiato.

Favorite Movie(s)

At one time in my life I would've definitely said "Top Gun" and "Footloose." "Footloose" is still the best movie soundtrack of all time, in my opinion. For romance, it's got to be "The Notebook." For comedy, I'm a big fan of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Christmas Vacation," "Anchorman," "Old School," "Wedding Crashers" - I'm a big fan of Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Jack Black, which reminds me of another favorite - "High Fidelity." Love John Cusack! Give me more John Cusack! I'm big on romantic comedy - "Sweet Home Alabama," "Bull Durham," "Pretty Woman," "Serendipity," "You've Got Mail" - the list goes on and on. NO SCARY MOVIES! I did the dishes during "The Ring" because I couldn't bear to watch.

Favorite TV shows

I'm a TV junkie. Always have been, always will be. My grandmother raised me on soap operas, "Sesame Street," "Mr. Rogers," game shows, and "Saved by the Bell." That's why I'm highly dramatic, I own a Cookie Monster t-shirt, I still remember King Friday, I can yodel the tune from a certain "Price is Right" game (you know which one I'm talking about), and I know that Zack Morris started out going to Middle School in Indiana with Miss Bliss and ended up at Bayside High in California. Right now my DVR is set for: "Grey's Anatomy," "Rock Star Supernova," "The Bachelor/Bachelorette," "The Apprentice," "Project Runway," "The Daily Show," "Colbert Report," "Oprah," "Scrubs," "24," and "The Office," which has to be my new favorite, replacing "Friends." Guilty Pleasure = "South Park."