Latest News and Events

Stay up to date!

The Claire Smith Center continues to offer Temple students a blend of academic, programmatic, and professional development experience as it enters its third academic year. Here are some of the accomplishments and highlights from the center’s first two years.

  • The Center hosted another successful Sports Media Summit. The 11th edition featured two keynote speakers – Klein College graduate and ESPN SportsCenter anchor Max McGee and renowned sports journalist Jemele Hill, who signed copies of her new book, Uphill: A Memoir, for students, faculty and staff. 
  • The Center’s Sports Media Certificate has tripled in enrollment. Following its initial launch with 14 students in 2021, more than 50 students are now working toward completing the certificate, which includes sports media-related classes in each of Klein College’s academic majors. Smith co-teaches the certificate’s required course, The Influence of Sports Media on Modern Society, with Prof. Karen Turner, a 2021 recipient of Temple University’s Great Teacher Award. 
  • In April of 2022, the Claire Smith Center drew more than 200 attendees in person and via Zoom to its Jackie Robinson Symposium, which offered an insightful look at the 75th anniversary of the late Hall of Famer breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier. The symposium included several notable speakers and lecturers, including Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker as the keynote speaker, along with Larry Doby Jr. (the son of the Hall of Famer who broke the American League’s color barrier in 1947), Branch Rickey III (grandson of the Brooklyn Dodgers owner who signed Robinson in 1947), and C. Vivian Stringer (the retired Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach.) 
  • In Sept. 2022, the Claire Smith Center hosted then-Miami Marlins manager and former New York Yankees star Don Mattingly at Temple’s Charles Library. Mattingly spoke to more than 100 students, faculty and staff about his career, leadership and what traits he looks for in successful and fair reporting. 
  • Students who have graduated from Temple’s Klein College and completed the Claire Smith Center’s sports media certificate continue to get great jobs as they enter the sports media field, including Javon Edmonds (breaking news reporter at The Messenger), Cayden Steele (sports commerce and Philadelphia Eagles reporter at NJ.com), Brielle Berry (sports anchor and reporter at WICS ABC 20 in Springfield, Illinois), and Ray Dunne (producer and on-air host at 97.5 The Fanatic.)