STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State, a school with an innovative Center for Sports Journalism and one of the nation’s most respected intercollegiate athletics programs, will enhance its leadership role by becoming the home to the new Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society.
Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced a $1.5 million grant endowing the teaching position at a press conference prior to a College of Communications dinner honoring donors and scholarship winners. Ibargüen was joined by Penn State President Graham Spanier and College of Communications Dean Doug Anderson.
The sports and society chair is the 19th Knight Chair in Journalism to be created, endowed and awarded by Knight Foundation since 1990.
With the Knight Chair endowment, Penn State’s College of Communications will be able to hire a renowned working journalist who will be a tenured classroom educator and news industry leader in sports journalism. Penn State expects the Knight professor to develop and share innovating teaching, advocate for improvement in sports journalism and build a strong Center for Sports Journalism.
“With its enormous influence on our culture, sports is a major American institution. Sports bring us together as communities; they unite a diverse nation and do the same for regions, towns and cities,” said Ibargüen. “Yet much of sports journalism is devoted to game coverage, personality profiles, statistics and features. We hope this high-profile teaching post will spur interest in sports’ larger role in society. And with its strong intercollegiate athletics values, its solid journalism leadership and talented sports journalism faculty, Penn State is a truly appropriate home for this effort.”
Spanier, who has played an active role in the NCAA as former chair of the Division I Board of Directors and chair of the Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents, said Penn State is honored to be selected for such an important recognition.
“This gift from Knight Foundation is a tremendous opportunity to improve teaching, conduct research, and clarify the role of journalists and sports in our society,” Spanier said. “The influence of sports on our youth and the proliferation of sports and 24-hour sports coverage make it imperative that the highest standards of excellence be met both on the field and in the newsroom. This is a critical time for the media, and Penn State is committed to upholding values and professional standards that will guide future journalists.”
Knight Foundation is not new to the field of sports and society. In 1989, it formed the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics to investigate and recommend reform in college sports. The Knight Commission has exposed financial and governance issues and significantly influenced reforms adopted by the NCAA.
Knight Foundation trustees awarded the $1.5 million grant to Penn State at their September board meeting. They also awarded Penn State’s College of Communications a $225,000 challenge grant to continue and establish an endowment for the Knight Diversity Scholars Program.
Penn State’s Knight Chair proposal was the clear choice of an independent panel of reviewers and was also recommended by Knight’s Journalism Advisory Committee. The university has pledged an annual cash contribution of $167,000 that will equal the payout from an endowment of $3 million.
Penn State’s College of Communications, with 3,500 undergraduates, is the nation’s largest nationally accredited program. In the last four years, Penn State is the only school in the country to place in the top 10 in both intercollegiate writing and intercollegiate broadcast news in the Hearst Awards, often called the “Pulitzers of College Journalism.”
In 2003 Penn State launched the Center for Sports Journalism (www.comm.psu.edu/sports), founded by co-directors Dean Anderson and journalism professor John Curley, former Gannett CEO and founding editor of USA Today. The center enrolled 174 undergraduates – 37 percent of them women – at the beginning of the academic year.
“The Knight Chair will function as the glue that connects the array of individuals, associations, organizations and media outlets that have a profound interest in the impact of sports on media and society,” said Anderson, now in his seventh year as dean. Anderson is a past president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication. In 1996, The Freedom Forum named him Journalism Administrator of the Year. “He or she will focus on the need to pursue rational reform in big-time intercollegiate athletics; on the need for the media to improve its coverage of the increasingly complex aspects of sports, particularly those that extend beyond the playing fields and courts; and on the need for university journalism programs, very simply, to better prepare the next generation of sports journalists.”
The new Penn State Knight Chair will:
- Direct the Center for Sports Journalism, coordinating instruction, programming and research.
- Develop new and innovative courses and areas of research.
- Develop a web site for the posting of lesson plans.
- Work with News University (www.newsu.org) to create an online teaching module.
- Work with partners including the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland, the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Southern California, the Association for Women in Sports Media and Investigative Reporters and Editors.
- Research and periodically produce three report cards measuring
- trends in hiring, staffing and coverage areas of sports media;
- the extent of media coverage of sports events vs. off-field sports issues; and
- the progress of recommendations made by groups such as the Knight Commission and the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics.
- Develop and coordinate seminars and programs to elevate the coverage of important issues by present and future sports journalists. Sessions will focus on legal, economic, racial, medical and social issues of the day. Topics will include: 1) the effectiveness of new NCAA standards for student-athletes; and 2) how to measure athletic and academic success.
The college will begin its search for the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society later this year.
Myles Brand, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, said, “Penn State is the poster child for doing it right in college sports.” The Nittany Lions have won 58 national team championships in 10 different men’s and women’s sports. More importantly, 83 percent of its athletes graduate. Penn State and the University of Virginia have the highest graduation rate of all public Division I-A schools, according to the most recent NCAA data. Penn State also graduated 69 percent of its African American athletes, the 14th consecutive year it has led the NCAA in this category.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities, including State College. From 1990 through 2005, the foundation has established 19 Knight Chairs in Journalism at major U.S. colleges and universities, investing $28.5 million in the program (www.knightfdn.org).