INDIANAPOLIS – Five students from the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will cover the NCAA men’s and women’s Final Four basketball tournaments in an unprecedented series of opportunities for sports journalism students.
Mark Alewine, Colton Bennett and Tyler Fenwick (left to right) at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Mark Alewine, a graduate student in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations, and Colton Bennett, an undergraduate at IUPUI, will cover the men’s Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona for the Sports Capital Journalism Program website. Tyler Fenwick, a junior at IUPUI, was selected by the NCAA to contribute to its social media content.
Rebecca Harris and Jessica Hunt, students in the M.A. program in Sports Journalism, will cover the women’s Final Four at American Airlines Center in Dallas for the website NCAA.com and the program’s website.
The students will be supervised by Malcolm Moran, the program’s director who will attend his 37th Final Four, and Pamela Laucella, the academic director.
“Our neighbors at the NCAA have created remarkable opportunities that have challenged the reporting ability, creativity and stamina of our students,” Moran said. “By the end of each experience, IUPUI students know they can compete with experienced professionals from across the country, because they just did. We are always grateful for this experience.”
Jessica Hunt (left) and Rebecca Harris at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
This will be the second consecutive year that IUPUI students have covered both Final Four tournaments and the sixth straight year they have covered the men’s Final Four. In the past three seasons, more than 20 IUPUI students will have covered men’s and women’s conference tournament and Final Four games.
The Sports Capital Journalism Program, in association with the United States Basketball Writers Association, also organized “Full Court Press,” a seminar and scholarship competition for college and high school students to take place on Friday at the men’s Final Four.
The Sports Capital Journalism Program is part of the Department of Journalism and Public Relations in the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. It is home to the nation’s first graduate program in sports journalism since 2009. At IUPUI, sports journalism students cover a variety of major sporting events, including the College Football Playoff, National Football League Scouting Combine, Indianapolis 500 and the Olympic Games. Through campus events, students also connect with leaders in sports journalism and professional and amateur sports industries.
.
