Alumni Newsletter

NFL Course: Dick Maxwell taught a weeklong class and workshop as part of the collaborative initiative of the BGSU Management Program and the School of Media and Communication.  The course, titled “The NFL: Modern Sport Media and Management,” focused on team and organization management structure, the difference between old and contemporary sport media, and the basics and challenges of being a sports journalist and broadcaster. The course included group role-playing exercises and interviews with other NFL executives and concluded with a trip to the Detroit Lions stadium and broadcast venue. [LINK TO SLIDESHOW]

Conversation with Ed Goren: At the end of the semester, Dick Maxwell invited Ed Goren, vice chairman of Fox Sports Media Group, to be the featured guest at the end-of-the-year recognition night. Goren basically started Fox Sports, beginning with the network’s winning of the NFL rights in 1994. The FOX Box, lots of the elements of the pre- and post-game shows and the overall aesthetic of pro sports coverage today was basically his doing. The night was billed as a conversation, with Goren being interviewed by Mike Butterworth, associate professor in communications and taking questions from the audience. In attendance at the event were people from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Detroit Lions and the Mud Hens and university members including the provost and football coach as well as students.

Media Watch: The Maxwell Project Sport Media Watch is a project that transforms students into critical analysts of media. BGSU students and faculty have contributed blogs to the Sport Media project with topics ranging from basketball to horse racing, tennis, golf and baseball. During the Super Bowl, student-bloggers weighed in on pre-game, in-game and post –game Super Bowl commentary. The project even had guest blogs from alumnus Dan Spehler, who works for a Cincinnati TV station and went behind the scenes at the Super Bowl. Students have become critical consumers of media and have become more adept at communicating biases, sexism, and knowing what it takes for a successful sports broadcast. Students have also improved their sport communication skills and have become familiar with Associated Press style, an industry standard. You can read the blog here.

Collins Scholarship and Hall of Fame Internship: The Collins Scholarship is awarded each spring to one sophomore or junior in the Sport Management Program and one sophomore or junior in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations who demonstrates an interest in pursuing a career in the sport media.  The scholarship honors Maxwell’s father-in-law, the late Bob Collins, who was the highly regarded sports editor of the famous Rocky Mountain News. The journalism department chose Nate Lowe. Lowe, who will start his junior year in the fall, carries a 4.0 gpa. He has worked as a sports reporter for two Toledo-area weekly newspapers and interned at radio station as an on-air personality, broadcasting local high school games and hosting talk shows. Last summer, he was the sports information director of the 2011 NABF College World Series, as 22-and-under national showcase baseball tournament. This summer, Lowe was chosen for an internship with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This internship is affiliated with the Maxwell Project and offered exclusively to BGSU students.  

Graduate Assistant: One of the faces behind the successful launching of the Maxwell Project is graduate assistant Jordan Cravens. Cravens, a 2009 print journalism graduate, worked at the Findlay Courier as a reporter following graduation. In 2011 she decided to pursue graduate studies and was awarded a graduate assistantship in the Sport Administration Program in the School of Human Movement, Sports and Leisure Studies. She heads up the Maxwell Project. As part of her responsibilities, she worked with Dick Maxwell during his fall NFL course and accompanied the group on the field trip. She assisted with public relations on the various activities, collaborated on the website, coordinated paperwork and other organizational business, and emceed the April recognition event. In addition to her assistantship, she writes for the Sentinel Tribune.