ESPNU Celebrates Campus Connection Week

From Monday Jan. 19 through Saturday Jan. 24, students from more than 40 schools, representing 15 conferences and 21 states, have the opportunity to serve in various roles during ESPNU Campus Connection Week, including producer, sideline reporter, play-by-play announcer, stage manager, and camera operator. The newly renamed week, previously known as Student Spirit Week, will feature at least one ESPNU Campus Connection element in every college basketball game during the span of six days, which will include 39 men’s and women’s college basketball games combined on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU.

The week tipped off on Monday, with three games across the networks, featuring the top teams in both men’s and women’s basketball: No. 1 Pittsburgh hosting No. 8 Syracuse (men) on ESPN and No. 1 Connecticut at No. 2 North Carolina (women) on ESPN2. ESPNU televised a game from Washington, DC, the night before the presidential inauguration, with South Carolina State University at Howard University (men). In addition, ESPNU Campus Connection Week lives online with community forums. Fans will have the opportunity to post comments and photos relevant to their respective institutions and alma maters on the college basketball and ESPNU.com sections of ESPN.com.

ESPNU Campus Connection Week is an expansion of the larger ESPNU Campus Connection brand launched in January 2008, which is a student-generated-content initiative that involves more than 100 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. Students regularly work on ESPNU game telecasts and studio shows in such roles as on-air announcers, producers, and camera operators. Examples of other jobs during the week include writing articles for ESPN.com, programming the ESPNU network for a day, and working on special academic projects.

“ESPNU Campus Connection provides fans a unique perspective from the college student’s point-of-view, bringing them closer to the on-campus atmosphere while giving participants the opportunity to gain invaluable professional experience,” says Rosalyn Durant, VP/GM of ESPNU. “ESPNU Campus Connection Week is a perfect showcase of this initiative.”

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