Back to Top

Leading Sports Journalists Speak at Loyola

By Loyola University on Mon, 03/28/2022 - 14:26 Press Releases

(New Orleans – March 28, 2022) Days after Loyola University New Orleans celebrated winning the 2022 NAIA Men’s Basketball championship, its first championship title in 77 years, leading sports journalists are visiting the university’s award-winning School of Communication and Design.

Long on the calendar, the talks are designed to illustrate to aspiring journalists and communication professionals some of the high-level issues facing the industry, particularly in regards to the ways in which race, culture and politics influence the media.

All are invited to attend. Please RSVP to tklawson@loyno.edu or pmurret@loyno.edu if you are a member of the media and wish to join us.

“I created this class to help students examine the interrelationship between sports and politics and how that intersection reinforces social values and challenges social norms,” said Ty Lawson, ’00, who teaches Tackling Sports and Politics among other popular courses in his role as the university’s Marion M. and John S. Stokes Jr Visiting Professor in Race and Culture in Media.

“We are in the middle of a journalistic reckoning – social unrest, newsrooms in crisis, extreme diversity issues, a pandemic. All of this adds to an already complex sports landscape that shapes the world in which we live. ”

  • Loyola alumna and Vice President of Production for the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans Shanieka Dabney-Henderson spoke to students about being a woman in the male-dominated industry. 

    11 a.m., Tuesday, March 22, J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library, Multimedia Room 2
     

  • Loyola alumnus, former ESPN anchor and co-host Brother from Another on Peacock Michael Smith will share his experience with covering sports and politics, his ESPN journey, and more.

    11 a.m. Tuesday, March 29, J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library Room Multimedia Room 2
     

  • New Orleans native and ESPN SportsCenter Anchor Stan Verret will discuss his career of covering sports and politics on a national level.

    11 a.m., Tuesday, April 5, J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library Room Multimedia Room 2
     

  • Sports journalist Tamryn Spruill, author of a Change.org petition to Free Your WNBA star Brittany Griner in Russia, will discuss why as a journalist she felt compelled to fight for Griner’s freedom and bring attention to her story.

    11 a.m., Thursday, April 7, J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library Multimedia Room 2