From Seton Hall University Center for Sports Media via shu.edu:
Robin Roberts, who has connected with athletes, entertainers, fans and viewers for decades – first at ESPN and for the last 20 years on “Good Morning America” – will be honored with a Lifetime Professional Achievement Award by the new Seton Hall University Center for Sports Media at a special gala on Sept. 15 at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in New York City.
Roberts has been one of the preeminent broadcast journalists of her era. She has won numerous Emmy Awards, including four at “Good Morning America,” and most recently the 2022 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show as host and executive producer of “Turning the Tables” on Disney+. She was voted as the “Most Trusted Person on Television” by a Reader’s Digest poll in 2013, was honored with The Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, and has been inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. More importantly, she is a two-time cancer survivor and has teamed with Be the Match to help raise awareness for the need for bone marrow donors.
The Center for Sports Media at Seton Hall University was launched in the Fall of 2021 with a generous donation from sports journalist and Seton Hall alumnus Bob Ley ’76, who anchored the SportsCenter desk with Roberts at ESPN and on location at events from Atlanta to South Africa.
“The Center for Sports Media is already bursting with activity benefiting our students, and it holds tremendous promise,” said Ley. “Our Gala on September 15th will gather friends and supporters of the Center to celebrate our official launch and set our ambitious course. To recognize my dear friend and colleague Robin with our inaugural Award will cap the night, as she so perfectly embodies the professional and personal qualities that will further inspire our students.”
The Center for Sports Media is the latest forward-looking move from Seton Hall, where a wide variety of top-ranked “Pirate” sports on the South Orange campus offers a learning laboratory for students to hone the skills of modern storytelling, while getting an education steeped in traditional journalistic principles.
“We are proud to be honoring Robin Roberts at this momentous occasion,” noted Renee Robinson, Ph.D., interim dean of Seton Hall’s College of Communication and the Arts. “She has helped convey countless powerful stories that touch our lives, while exercising the highest journalistic standards through her lengthy and rich career. Her identity as a woman of color in a field historically dominated by men is a beacon of hope for many young people studying sports media at Seton Hall.”
The University’s undergraduate program in sports media has been growing tremendously in the past few years, and the University has committed to expanding the resources and opportunities for its students. In May, former ESPN reporter and columnist Jane McManus was tapped as the Center’s inaugural Executive Director. The Center hosts guest professionals in the classroom, panel talks and conferences. It helps students build robust portfolios, often covering events and stories about the BIG EAST athletes. The Center also gives students the opportunity to network with top professionals in the field, land internships and find top jobs when they graduate.
“At the Center for Sports Media, we are connecting the next generation of sports media professionals with the tools they need to lead and succeed in a competitive industry,” McManus said. “Although our faculty is unparalleled, we couldn’t do it without shining examples of women and men in the field who have reported with dignity and empathy. Robin Roberts is one of those examples, and we’re thrilled she will be joining us to officially launch the Center.”
McManus spent nearly 10 years at ESPN covering the NFL and as a columnist for espnW, and in 2018 became the director of the Center for Sports Communication at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She was also an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she received her Masters.
Tickets to the event and sponsorships are still available for the Gala on September 15, 2022, 6 p.m. at the premiere event venue in New York City: the newly re-designed The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers. Inquiries: www.shu.edu/sportsmediagala, (973) 378-9876, barbara.geiger@shu.edu.
