Sports Media Program

The Bachelor of Arts in sports media is specifically geared toward students seeking communication careers in sports-related fields, such as sports journalism, sports broadcasting, public relations, marketing communications, and sports information.

Like all Jandoli School of Communication programs, sports media is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

A focus on fundamentals

Students enrolled in the major learn the same solid communications fundamentals as in the Jandoli School's undergraduate majors in journalism, strategic communication and broadcast journalism. They then focus on sports-related classes including "Sports Writing," "Sports Commentary and Analysis," "Sports Photojournalism," and more.

A primary focus of the sports media program is equipping students with solid writing skills, the bedrock on which all successful sports media careers rest.

Internships & opportunities: Put your education to work

St. Bonaventure's NCAA Division I athletics program, with nine men's and eight women's sports, offers sport media majors the opportunity to learn while doing, without leaving campus. Jandoli School students broadcast the university's D-I games on ESPN+. It's just one of a number of on- and off-campus internship opportunities available to our students.

All Jandoli School majors are required to complete 400 hours of internships, a combination of on-campus and off-campus experiences.

Internship Requirements
Campus Media Opportunities

Adrian "Woj" Wojnarowski, ESPN's Senior NBA Insider, speaks during the induction of his friend and fellow SBU graduate Michael Vaccaro (in sportcoat), lead sports columnist at the New York Post, onto the Jandoli School's Wall of Distinguished Graduates.

Jandoli grads achieve success, from ESPN to USA Today

Graduates of the Jandoli School hold some of the most prominent positions in the most respected sports media organizations in the country.

Adrion "Woj" Wojnarowski, Class of 1991, Senior NBA Insider at ESPN, has long been considered the most dominant force in reporting on the NBA. He has been named National Sportswriter of the Year three times by the National Sports Media Association.

Woj's good friend, Mike Vaccaro, Class of 1989, lead sports columnist for the New York Post, has a trifecta of his own, having been named New York Sportswriter of the Year three times by The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Donna Ditota, '83, sports reporter for Syracuse Media Group, is the first woman to be named New York Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Ditota has also been selected for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame.

Tim Bontemps, '07, is an NBA writer for ESPN; Rachel Axon, '06, is a sports investigative reporter for USA Today; and Todd Dybas, '99, is a senior writer at NBC Sports Washington..

Jandoli Graduates in Sports Media

Program Information

SBU Sociology professors see greater focus on environmental issues during pandemic

Jun 30, 2020

Not all of the news emerging from the coronavirus pandemic is bleak, according to two faculty members of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at St. Bonaventure University.

“Recent news has hinted at something of a shift, a move in a direction that just might lead to lives — and a world — that may be heading in a new and positive direction. All of these accounts have a common element: the environment,” Assistant Professor Kathy Zawicki and Associate Professor Benjamin Gross wrote in a paper posted June 30 by the Jandoli Institute.

The paper, “Status Quo or Silver Lining? Environmental Changes in a Pandemic,” is the second post in the Jandoli Institute’s Media Studies Across Disciplines project, a collection of research essays connecting different academic disciplines with the field of communication.

In the article, Zawicki and Gross explain that news reports, studies and polls show that the public’s commitment to the environment has increased during the pandemic and could lead to more awareness of the environment, a greater inclination to follow environmental news, and ultimately more of a tendency to act to protect the environment.

“If any or all of these positive outcomes could come to pass, it would mean that the most unlikely of outcomes had become reality: in the midst of a global pandemic, the finding of a silver lining,” they wrote.

The institute will post a new Media Studies Across Disciplines essay on its website every Tuesday through Aug. 11.

The essays were authored by St. Bonaventure faculty members who used their knowledge and expertise to provide insight and analysis from their own individual perspectives. Faculty from biology, history, nursing, philosophy and sociology contributed to the project, which was funded by the Leo E. Keenan Jr. Faculty Development Endowment and the Jandoli School of Communication. The essays were selected through a blind peer-review process.

The Jandoli Institute serves as a forum for academic research, creative ideas and discussion on the intersection between media and democracy. The institute, accessible at jandoli.net, is part of the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University.