Robert Lipsyte and Tom Farrey discuss the role of sports in society. They are joined by Beth Brooke, Christine Brennan, and John Walsh. Location: Paepcke Auditorium"
Bio
Christine Brennan
Christine Brennan is an award-winning sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator on ABC News, CNN, and National Public Radio, a best-selling author and a nationally known speaker. Twice named one of the country’s top ten sports columnists by the Associated Press Sports Editors, she has covered 14 consecutive Olympic Games, summer and winter. Brennan was the first woman sports writer at The Miami Herald in 1981 and the first woman to cover the Washington Redskins as a staff writer at The Washington Post in 1985. She was the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media and started an internship-scholarship program that now honors six female students annually. Brennan is the author of seven books, including her sports memoir, Best Seat in the House, and national best-seller Inside Edge, which was named one of the top 100 sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated.
Beth Brooke
Beth A. Brooke is global vice chair for public policy at Ernst & Young and a member of the firm’s Global Executive Board, with public policy responsibility
for the firm’s operations in 140 countries as well as for its diversity and inclusiveness efforts. Brooke has been named five times to the list of Forbes’ “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women,” and was named 2009 Woman of the Year by Concern Worldwide. During the Clinton administration, she served with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where she was responsible for all tax policy matters related to insurance and managed care. She played important roles in the healthcare reform and Superfund efforts. A member of the International Women’s Forum, Brooke has been actively engaged in numerous international advocacy, civic and business organizations.
Tom Farrey
Tom Farrey is an Emmy Award-winning correspondent for ESPN and the author of Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children. He was honored in 2007 as one the 100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America by the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island. Farrey is also director of the Aspen Institute’s new Sports and Society program, a vehicle for convening leaders and fostering dialogue around topics of critical importance. The program helps inspire solutions to major issues so that sport can serve the public interest, starting with the health needs of children and communities.
Robert Lipsyte
Robert Lipsyte is a sports and city columnist for the The New York Times. He is the author of sixteen books, including his recent memoir, An Accidental Sportswriter. Lipsyte has been a correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning” and “NBC Nightly News.” He won Columbia University’s Mike Berger Award for distinguished reporting in 1966 and 1996, and in 1992 was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. In 1990, he received an Emmy as host of “The Eleventh Hour,” a nightly PBS public affairs show on WNET in New York. Lipsyte’s books also include Dick Gregory’s autobiography, Nigger, and SportsWorld: An American Dreamland. In 2001, he won the American Library Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in Young Adult literature. His YA novels include The Contender, One Fat Summer, and Center Field.
John Walsh
John A. Walsh is executive vice president and executive editor of ESPN Inc. and the ESPN Internet Group.
He oversaw the launch of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Radio and was instrumental in developing the news and information elements of ESPN2.
He is also responsible for all creative development and editorial direction for ESPN.com, NFL.com, ABCSports.com, and Soccernet.
He was founding editor of the original Inside Sports magazine, and he also served as managing editor of U.S. News & World Report and Rolling Stone. He has edited three sports books, including The Heisman: A Symbol of Excellence.
Beth A. Brooke, global vice chair of public policy at Ernst & Young, and Christine Brennan, sports columnist for USA Today, argue that Penn State inaction following the transgressions of Jerry Sandusky was reprehensible.
