St. Bonaventure University’s Jandoli School of Communication will welcome four distinguished sports media professionals to campus Tuesday, April 9, for the biennial Dick Joyce Sports Symposium to discuss coverage of social issues and sports.

Keri Potts, ESPN PR senior director; Jane McManus, Marist College’s director of the Center for Sports Communication; and Kimberley A. Martin, Yahoo Sports senior NFL reporter, will be the featured panelists for “Stick to Sports? Covering Social Issues On and Off the Field.” Rachel Axon, ’06, USA Today sports investigative reporter, will moderate the panel.

The symposium is open to the public and is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. in Dresser Auditorium of the John J. Murphy Professional Building at St. Bonaventure.

Potts is an award-winning communications professional with 19 years of experience working for multinational companies, including ESPN. She is also the president and founder of A Fight Back Woman speaking and consulting, which has taken her across the country to speak on a variety of topics in and around sexual violence, healthy relationships and female empowerment. Potts was a PRWeek 40 Under 40 selection in 2016 and ESPN’s volunteer of the year in 2017.

McManus has covered New York sports since 1998, including 18 U.S. Opens, five Super Bowls, two NCAA Final Fours, and the inaugural season of the New York Liberty WNBA team. Her work has appeared in Newsday, USA Today, The Journal News, The New York Times and on ESPN. Recently, Marist College named her as the new director of the college’s Center for Sports Communication and she is a columnist for the New York Daily News.

Martin has covered the NFL since 2009. She joined Yahoo Sports in 2018 after a stint as The Washington Post’s Redskins beat writer. The Brooklyn native also has worked as a columnist for the Buffalo News and New York Jets beat writer for Newsday.

Axon is an investigative reporter focusing on sports. She joined USA TODAY in 2013 and previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel and the StarNews in Wilmington, N.C.

“We are fortunate to have such an accomplished group of sports journalist and communicators join us for the Dick Joyce Sports Symposium,” said Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli School. “The symposium will cover issues that have dominated sports news in recent years. It’s a timely and important discussion.”

On Monday, April 8, Tom McElroy, ’74, will be honored at a dinner with the John Domino Award.

McElroy is an accomplished athletic administrator and media professional with a career spanning more than four decades.

The 1974 St. Bonaventure journalism graduate begin his professional career at St. Bonaventure working in alumni services, public relations and sports information until 1981 when he left for a 20-year run at the Big East Conference. Originally employed as director of communications, McElroy was promoted four times, ultimately serving as senior associate commissioner.

In 2001, he joined the University of Connecticut as deputy director of athletics and helped the university’s football program transition to NCAA Division 1-A classification.

In 2004, the University of Rhode Island named McElroy director of athletics where he oversaw 20 intercollegiate and 15 club sports teams. Under his leadership, the department achieved record fundraising.

Since leaving Rhode Island, he’s served as senior vice president/sports division at the Leffler Agency, senior associate director of athletics at the University of Massachusetts and as a consultant.

McElroy also holds a master’s degree from St. Bonaventure.

Domino graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1984 and helped usher in the video era while an undergraduate, successfully lobbying the administration to acquire a truckload of professional video equipment being sold by a local school district.

Domino worked for NBC Sports before joining ESPN. He was regarded as one of the growing sports network’s best and brightest personalities when he left to return to the Buffalo area and join the Empire Sports Network. He told friends he was coming back because someone in the family was battling cancer.

Domino was that someone; he died in 1994.

The Jandoli School celebrates his courage, skills and humanity by presenting the John Domino Award to a St. Bonaventure graduate who has excelled in his or her sports communication position.

Held every other year, the Joyce Symposium honors the memory of Dick Joyce, SBU class of 1960, a former sports writer for The Associated Press who died in 1988.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, we believe in the goodness of every person and in the ability of every person to do extraordinary things. St. Bonaventure University cultivates graduates who are confident and creative communicators, collaborative leaders and team members, and innovative problem solvers who are respectful of themselves, others, and the diverse world around them. Named the #1 regional university value in New York and #2 in the North by U.S. News and World Report, we are establishing pathways to internships, graduate schools and careers in the context of our renowned liberal arts tradition.