| Cathy Bongiovi Stewart |
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Cathy Bongiovi Stewart begins her fifth season as assistant director of athletic media relations at Virginia. She serves as the media contact for the women's basketball team and oversees gameday media operations. In addition to serving as the women's basketball contact, she works with the football team and coordinates media coverage for the UVa golf teams.
Stewart came to Virginia after four years at Penn State. In March 2000, she advanced with Penn State to the NCAA Women's Final Four, making the prestigious trip for the third time in her career. She also handled publicity for the PSU women's soccer team which also advanced to the final four in the fall of 1999.
A 1987 Penn State graduate in broadcast journalism, Stewart joined her alma mater in 1997 after serving two years as the assistant director of communications at the Atlantic 10 Conference in Philadelphia.
Following graduation, Stewart spent three seasons as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers public relations staff. She then served as an athletic communications assistant at the University of Connecticut, where she handled all publicity for the women's basketball team during its inaugural Final Four appearance in March 1991.
In August 1991, Stewart was named the assistant sports information director with the University of Iowa women's athletic department, and two years later she was promoted to sports information director for the Hawkeyes' 12 varsity women's sports, including Final Four women's basketball and World Series softball.
A member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Female Athletic Media Relations Executives (FAME), and U.S. Basketball Writers' Association, Stewart has earned 13 citations from CoSIDA for excellence in publication design, including one for the 2003-04 Virginia women's media guide. She has been a member of the NCAA Women's Final Four media coordination staff since 1997.
A distant cousin to musician and film star Jon Bon Jovi, she married Steven Stewart in July 2003. The couple resides in Lake Monticello with their three children- Ariel (13), Erika (12), and Donnie (9)- and their dogs, JoePa and Brutus.
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