BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh University Goodman Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett has announced two staffing updates within the Lehigh Athletics Department. Barb Turanchik ’75 will become the Director of Club Sports, while Bill Griffin ’79 joins the department as the Associate Director for External Relations and Athletics Advancement, effective Monday, September 10. As a key part of her responsibilities, Turanchik will initiate revenue generating strategies for the entire non-varsity program areas including intramural sports, club sports, recreation, fitness and instructional programming. Griffin will provide leadership and coordination for most of the athletic department’s revenue generating and communications operations and he will also lead and oversee the Athletics Partnership program.
“I am pleased that we will be providing increased support for the intramural, club and fitness areas, and particularly pleased that Barb Turanchik is going to be leading that effort as she understands and embraces the value of such programs,” Sterrett explained. “These non-varsity dimensions of our athletics programming are often less visible than the varsity programs yet they serve a larger population and have the potential to enrich the student experience in deeply meaningful and life-long ways.”
Currently, Lehigh offers 30 club sports, 10 intramural sports, and a wide array of recreational, fitness and instructional programs which collectively serve more than 3000 Lehigh students.
“Essentially, this reorganization also allows us to reorganize the duties of (Director of Intramurals and Recreation) Jane Josephson and (Director of Fitness and Instructional Programs) Doug Strange so that each can devote more attention to priority initiatives. At the same time, we will be able to expand our Athletics Partnership efforts into the non-varsity sport areas. Barb’s successful experience with the Athletics Partnership program, which this year reached a challenging $1 million annual goal, will serve well and specifically the non-varsity areas of our department programming.”
“My new team will focus on the other 85 percent of the student body and our obligations to them to provide a better athletics and fitness experience,” Turanchik explained. “We will be working on generating funds to improve what we can offer to all students and members of the Lehigh University community.” She continued, “Lehigh University has a very long tradition of excellent IMs, and now club sports are growing with 28 of 30 competing on a regional and national basis. The fitness center is one of the busiest places on the campus serving the entire Lehigh community and offering many forms of exercise and instruction for all to continue to learn and grow.”
A member of the Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame, Griffin is also a former chair of the Lehigh Athletics Partnership program, the former president of the Lehigh Alumni Association and a former Alumni Trustee. “I couldn’t be more excited to be back at Lehigh University with people that I have so much respect for, in an area that I’m so inspired by and at an institution that I’m so very fond of,” Griffin said. “I’m looking forward to bringing my expertise to the Lehigh team and to advance the broad spectrum of Lehigh University athletics.” He added, “It’s great to be coming home and I can’t wait to get started.”
“Bill will bring to our department the benefits of his 28 year business career in sales, marketing, and business development and his many years of direct and influential alumni service,” Sterrett explained.
Griffin was inducted into the Roger S. Penske/Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006 following a standout basketball career at Lehigh in which he scored 1,316 points. At the time of Griffin’s graduation, he was the top scorer in school annals. Griffin was a four-year varsity letterwinner while playing for the Brown and White, starting all 103 games of his career along the way. In 1979 he was honored with the East Coast Conference Scholar Athlete Award. Following his graduation from Lehigh, and a short stint playing basketball in Europe, Griffin assisted with the men’s basketball program as a graduate assistant, while pursuing his MBA.
Griffin’s success continued well after his time at Lehigh, with a long and productive business career. The New Jersey native served as a National Account Manager for the IBM Corporation for 12 years before joining Dell Computer Corporation as a New Business Development Executive and Global Account Manager from 1998-2002. More recently, Bill has led new business initiatives at Computer Aid, Inc. and Epitome Systems, Inc.
Griffin and his wife Mimi live in the Lehigh Valley and have two children, Kyle and Casey.
