Carolina women win through more than just championships

Carolina’s FORevHER Tar Heels campaign launched just four years ago and is already making a strong impact on women student-athletes, their coaches and our community.

The initiative, started in 2019 by The Rams Club and Carolina Athletics, celebrates and supports women student-athletes while they are at Carolina and after they leave. The program has already raised $144 million for women’s athletic scholarships, team operating endowments, athletic facilities and the FORevHER Tar Heels Excellence Fund used to enhance teams and provide mentoring and leadership opportunities.

“One of the great things about Carolina athletics is our broad-based program, which includes 15 women’s teams,” said Bubba Cunningham, director of athletics. “The entire University community celebrates their success, and the FORevHER Tar Heels campaign gives us the opportunity to sustain the outstanding experiences for our student-athletes long term, and in some cases forever through endowments.”

Carolina has a rich history of women’s athletics. The 15 teams all compete at championship levels, Cunningham noted. Carolina women’s athletics has earned 44 team national championships and 49 individual national championships.

A powerful part of FORevHER Tar Heels is the mentoring piece, which pairs current Carolina student-athletes with professional women, many of whom are also former Carolina student-athlete alumnae, who are invested in the student-athlete’s long-term success. The hope is that the relationships formed during the program will continue after the Carolina student-athlete graduates.

The Carolina women’s tennis team claimed the 2023 NCAA Championship in May. (Jeffrey A. Camarati/UNC Athletics)

Women’s lacrosse head coach Jenny Levy said that student-athlete recruits often ask her about career-development programs and networks for student-athletes. She became involved in FORevHER Tar Heels to address the topic. Now, Levy says that hearing successful former women student-athletes talk about their career and life journeys is one of her favorite parts of the initiative.

“I love hearing them sharing their experiences with our current student-athletes and giving them the vision and inspiration, so our current student-athletes know, ‘Hey listen this is real. I can do it, and this is what the future might look like for me,’” Levy said.

Sue Plambeck, a Carolina swimmer who graduated in 1985, was recently paired with Addison Smith, a swimmer who graduated this year. The two quickly developed a close relationship and met frequently for meals, coffees and walks. Plambeck gave Smith insights about her own experiences in swimming and life outside of the pool and helped connect Smith to a law professor to discuss possible career opportunities. Smith said she always felt wiser after leaving a meeting with Plambeck.

“Having someone else by your side who is not your coach or parent who truly wants to support you in every facet of your career is so impactful and creates a cycle of gratitude,” Smith said. “My relationship with Sue is something I will cherish forever. Sue made an effort to come to every one of my home swim meets and always sent me a good luck message,” Smith says.

Plambeck says spending time with the current student-athletes reminds her of what she gained when she competed at Carolina. “I feel that maybe now I can give a little something back to the University by supporting these student-athletes,” Plambeck says.

Levy says the entire FORevHER Tar Heels initiative has engaged Carolina alumni, like Plambeck, and helped them develop powerful relationships with student-athletes on campus.

“It’s a unique program specifically focused for women, by women. It is something that separates us in our commitment to helping women be successful, not just when they are student-athletes here as undergrads but also into their professional lives,” says Levy. “The FORevHER Tar Heels program to me really is very transformational in today’s world.”

Emily Stevens is a major gifts director with The Rams Club who helps lead FORevHER Tar Heels. She loves that the initiative promotes Carolina head coaches as the leaders who compete at the highest levels and commit their lives to our student-athletes.

“My favorite thing about FORevHER is that our women win,” Stevens said. “And through FORevHER, our donors have been able to provide them with championship resources to win more, reach more women and inspire others.”

Learn more about FORevHER Tar Heels.