Courses Offered

Taught by: Joe Yasharoff 
This class takes an analytical look at sports TV and sports content by deconstructing shows. Students examine the producer's role in creating the look, feel and direction of shows, Students learn how to choose a lead story, how to "tease" and the importance of identifying and telling good stories. Students watch live televised sporting events to better understand the techniques used by directors and producers and get hands-on experience with BTN2GO, learning all aspects of live game production.

Taught by: Kevin Blackistone/Kaitlyn Wilson/Kate Yanchulis
Students receive full and wide-ranging instruction in all aspects of sports reporting and writing, including how to report, write, and edit and how to incorporate photography and multimedia into their work. Students also discuss ethics, objectivity, fairness and the future of sports journalism.

Taught by: Rose DiPaula 
Students discuss working with various organizations' communications/media relations staff, coaches and players; distributing news of the organizations; and creating/maintaining methods for disseminating that news to the public in an honest and forthright manner. Traditional, digital and social media elements are also explored.

Taught by: Kevin Blackistone 
his course will assess not only the use of sport as a public platform on which social drama is played out, but equally as important, how the media -- through its collection, editing, interpretation and dissemination of information, or news, about sport -- constructs and frames the conversation and understanding for society at large. This class will examine the development of our games, the history of remonstration upon them and the machinations of the media at the intersection of the two.

Taught by: Mark Hyman
The course explores the history and economics of college sports with emphasis on issues including Pay for College Athletes, Name Image and Likeness, the bid of Northwestern University football players to unionize, Conference Realignment and the Supreme Court's seminal ruling in NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma.

Taught by: Mark Hyman
In this course, students explore the history and implementation of Title IX and work on a reporting project related to opportunities for girls in high school sports.

Taught by: Mark Hyman
In this course, students examine sports and their impact on culture, politics, health, ethics and more. Class discussion and reporting assignments will focus on globalization of US sports leagues, the head trauma crisis in football, the future of sports gambling and the adult-managed world of youth sports, among other topics. 

Taught by: Ben Eidelberg
In this course, students learn how analytics inform and enhance the decision-making process of basketball teams. Course material will focus on publicly available data, reputable basketball publications and class discussions that challenge students to understand topics such as in-game strategy, player/team performance metrics, and roster construction, among other subjects. Students will learn how to apply these tools to enhance journalistic coverage of basketball and other major sports.

Taught by: Mark Hyman
In this course, students explore the monetization of youth sports, including high school sports, on media platforms from ESPN to regional streaming platforms to local channels.

Taught by: Mark Hyman
In this course, students explore and report on plans for a $70 million ballpark in Hagerstown, Maryland, to learn what a baseball team means to a community and how the project is viewed by fans, business owners, elected officials and others.

A specialization in sports requires 11 to 18 credits depending on the combination of courses.

• A sports skills course from a menu of offerings in the JOUR 321-389 range, including JOUR 382: Sports Writing and Reporting (3)
• A sports discussion or seminar course from a menu of offerings in the JOUR 410-469 range, including JOUR 443: Sports, Society, Culture and the Media (3)
• A sports capstone course, from a menu including JOUR 325: Capital News Service Bureau, JOUR 353: News Bureau: Multimedia Reporting, JOUR 355: Multimedia Editing and Production and JOUR 357/367, the broadcast news bureaus (3 to 9)
• A sports experiential course such as an off-campus internship with a news organization, approved by the internship director for JOUR 396: Supervised Internship (2) or a second sports-focused capstone approved by the department (6)