The Master of Arts in Sports Journalism, the first graduate program of its kind in the United States, was launched on the IU Indianapolis campus in 2009 on the premise that Indianapolis, known for decades as “The Amateur Sports Capital of the World,” provides superior opportunities for students entering the sports journalism industry.
The M.A. program was created by Tim Franklin, who had been the editor at newspapers in Baltimore, Orlando and Indianapolis, and Pam Laucella, who continues to serve as Academic Director of the Sports Capital Journalism Program. The director is Malcolm Moran, a former reporter at The New York Times and USA Today and the inaugural Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society at Penn State University.
For more than a decade, the Associated Press Sports Editors have maintained a presence on the IU Indianapolis campus through the Red Smith Hall of Fame, an annual award for meritorious service to sports journalism that has become the highest honor in the industry. The Red Smith Award, named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist at The New York Times, is featured in the Campus Center at IU Indianapolis. APSE has twice conducted the judging for its annual contests in Indianapolis. The APSE Summer Conference is a four-day series of panel discussions and meetings involving leading editors from throughout the nation.
