UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Twelve Penn State alumni, a cross section of sports communications professionals with experience in a variety of disciplines at top-level media organizations across the country, have accepted volunteer roles as members of the Alumni Advisory Council for the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism.
Council members will help the center and its students in a broad variety of ways, including individual mentorship, offering insights on the latest industry developments, providing occasional feedback on student projects, visiting campus, helping procure guest speakers, and writing for the center’s Web page.
“We’re committed to an ethics-based education focused on sports journalism, and to providing opportunities for students that allow them to hone their skills in real-life situations,” said John Affleck, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and director of the Curley Center. “By tapping the expertise of our alumni, we’re positioned to do an even better job of that.”
The Curley Center, named for the first editor of USA Today and housed in the College of Communications, explores issues and trends in sports journalism through instruction, outreach, programming and research. Founded in 2003, the Curley Center complements its core courses with an emphasis on internships and hands-on experience with broadcast, multimedia and print outlets, as well as with league, sport and team publicity and sports information operations.
Students benefit from the breadth of the Penn State athletic program and from a variety of independent study and special project options — which have included covering the Croke Park Classic, the Final Four, the Olympics and the Super Bowl in recent years. Most recently, Curley Center students chronicled the historic trip by the Penn State baseball team to Cuba, with their content published by newspapers throughout the state under a partnership with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
Members of the council are:
- Marty Aronoff: A 1960 graduate and a Penn State Alumni Fellow, Aronoff serves as a sports statistician for major TV networks, covering Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL and major college basketball and football. He logs more than 300,000 miles of travel each year.
- Jennifer Bullano: A 2003 advertising/public relations graduate, Bullano serves as the senior director of communications for the Pittsburgh Penguins. She is the only female to hold her position in the NHL.
- Judson Burch: A 1992 journalism graduate, Burch is a senior coordinating producer at ESPN.
- Jim Buzinski: A 1980 journalism graduate, Buzinski is the co-founder of Outsports.com, a website devoted to LGBT sports fans and athletes. The site is hosted by SB Nation.
- Deb Gelman – A 1991 broadcast-cable graduate, Gelman is a producer/director who works extensively with CBS Sports on both NFL coverage and the NCAA basketball tournament. An Emmy Award-winning talent, she also serves as president of Creative Spark Productions.
- Amanda Gifford Lockwood – A 2004 journalism graduate, Gifford Lockwood is a senior director for the ESPN Radio Network, overseeing sports talk programming to millions of sports fans nationwide.
- Scott Horner – A 2002 advertising/public relations graduate, Horner is a senior director of the North American Sales and Marketing Group for Octagon, a leader in sports marketing, talent representation, event management, entertainment marketing and research.
- Emily Kaplan: A 2013 journalism graduate, Kaplan is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated, producing content for The MMQB.
- Michael Robinson: An advertising/public relations (2004) and journalism (2005) graduate, Robinson is a studio analyst for the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network. He led the Penn State football team to the Big Ten title and an Orange Bowl victory in 2005, and went on to a career in the NFL, winning a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.
- Rich Russo – A 1984 graduate of Penn State, Russo serves as the lead NFL director for Fox Sports and directs many other sports as well, including MLB, NASCAR, college basketball and college football. Russo has directed multiple Super Bowl broadcasts.
- Tom Verducci: A 1982 journalism graduate, Verducci is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and is an MLB analyst for Fox Sports. He was named National Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in January 2015.
- Michael Weinreb: A 1994 journalism graduate, Weinreb is an award-winning and best-selling author (“The Kings of New York,” “Season of Saturdays”), who frequently contributes to national publications such as Rolling Stone magazine.
“We have hundreds of alumni working in sports communications and sports journalism, from some of the most respected and visible people in their fields to others who are just building their careers. Without fail, all of those alumni have supported the Curley Center and Penn State,” Affleck said. “This council just provides a focused subset to help our students tap into that network. We’re excited that they’ve all agreed to serve, and thrilled about the possibilities of their participation.”