John Affleck has served as the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and director of the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Pennsylvania State University since 2013. In July 2022, he also took over as Department Head for Journalism. Affleck joined Penn State after a 22-year career at The Associated Press as an editor in news and sports that saw reporters and projects under Affleck’s direct supervision win dozens of regional and national awards.

At Penn State, Affleck has emphasized not only sports reporting and writing skills, but the business and cultural context of sports. This emphasis has been reflected in the major projects taken on by the Curley Center under Affleck’s direction, including reporting trips to Ireland (football / Irish sports), Cuba (baseball / soccer) and Brazil (Paralympics for the AP), plus documentary shoots in London and Puerto Rico. Curley Center students have been honored for their work in print journalism, television and sports documentaries produced in Affleck’s classes. Affleck himself was named a Penn State Teaching Fellow in 2019, one of the university’s highest awards for faculty.  

Affleck continues to write commentary and analysis on sports and sports media issues. He also serves as the faculty adviser to Penn State’s student chapter of the Association for Women in Sports Media.