Faculty and Students in the News

Phillip J. Briggs, Ph.D., East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) distinguished professor emeritus, presented several talks in New York City in September 2012. On September 15, he spoke in Harlem at the Morris Jumel Mansion on Kips Bay and Harlem Heights, The War for Independence on Manhattan, 1776. Later that month he spoke at the Fraunces Tavern Museum in lower Manhattan on Glover’s Brigade, 1776. Dr. Briggs speaks on various aspects of U.S. foreign policy, in both its historic and current context. He is a former commonwealth speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and author of Making American Foreign Policy, in two editions. Briggs retired from the ESU Political Science Department in 2000 after a 30-year career at the university.

ESU’s volleyball team raised more than $600 for the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC) as part of its annual “Pretty in Pink” match in October at Koehler Fieldhouse. The evening included a brief message from PBCC volunteer Honi Gruenberg prior to the Warriors’ match against West Chester. ESU senior Megan Plumb was the event organizer for the Warriors. She is also the secretary of ESU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was a recipient of the ESU President’s Outstanding Service Award last April for student service to the community. ESU has held the event for the last several years in conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

ESU faculty members Robert P. Fleischman, J.D., Ed.D., professor and graduate coordinator of ESU’s Sport Management Department, and Robert McKenzie, Ph.D., distinguished professor of communication studies, have published a refereed journal article in the Fall 2012 edition of Derecho Comparado de la Información (Comparative Media Law Journal) titled, “How the National Football League (NFL) Has Strategically Managed the 1961 Sports Broadcasting ACT (SBA) to Gain Market Supremacy in the USA and a Dominant Market Niche in Mexico.”  This international journal is dedicated to discussion of legal issues pertaining to comparative, international media and is published in collaboration with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Universidad De Palermo, Argentina.

The article traces the legal history of the NFL’s strategic approach to managing SBA in order to dominate the sports broadcasting market in a way that gives it worldwide distribution supremacy over Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.  The article indicates that because the SBA allowed the NFL to enter into exclusive broadcasting rights with television networks, the NFL has executed this privilege to the fullest extent, achieving remarkable worldwide ratings and brand awareness.  Though the NFL’s management of the SBA is not exclusively responsible for the league’s supreme status, and though televised broadcasts of NFL games are fewer than other professional leagues’ games, the article concludes that the NFL today finds itself in the ascendant position in the U.S. and Mexican markets mainly due to the NFL’s legitimate business options in effectively managing the SBA.

Dr. McKenzie delivered a presentation on January 1, 2013, titled, “How the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act Secured a Niche Market for the NFL in Mexico.” The presentation was at a conference hosted by the Autonomous University of Sinaloa in Mexico.

Dr. Fleischman and Nancy Jo Greenawalt, D.Ed., assistant professor and academics coordinator of the ESU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, recently served as the opening and closing speakers and group facilitators for a service learning initiative with students in Patricia Tiernan’s gender studies class at East Stroudsburg High School South. The program, “Play Like a Girl: 40 Years of Title IX,” was held at ESU’s Innovation Center in its Research and Business Park on January 15, 2013.  Dr. Greenawalt was one of several individuals interviewed by the class and featured in the documentary presented as part of the evening’s program. This school-based service learning initiative was facilitated through a partnership between Youth Infusion, Inc., and the Cavalier Justice Academy at East Stroudsburg High School South. Both Dr. Fleischman and Dr. Greenawalt addressed the history of Title IX, as well as the progress made by girls and women in sport and education since enactment of the historical legislation that granted gender equity to girls and women in educational programs that receive federal financial assistance. They also stressed the importance of educating the various constituencies regarding Title IX and stressed the importance of supporting women in their efforts to assume leadership roles in athletics and education. ESU President Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D., actively participated in the service learning event as part of the round table discussions that included, but were not limited to, dialog that addressed the history and effects of Title IX legislation, controversies in women’s athletics, media coverage, early childhood development and the impact of athletics on girls, as well as the social, economic, and psychological benefits of the involvement of athletics for women.

Kim McKay, Ph.D., ESU associate professor of English, is spending February as a volunteer in Morocco through International Volunteers HQ (IVHQ) as part of her sabbatical leave project, which is studying Arabic literature, culture, and language. Dr. McKay will stay with a Moroccan family and volunteer as part of a women’s empowerment initiative. According to IVHQ, an organization that provides volunteering placements in developing countries, many women in the cities and villages of Morocco suffer from poverty, illiteracy and unemployment, affecting their social environment and, in turn, their children’s education. Since the establishment of the National Initiative for Human Development in 2005, the Moroccan government has been working hard to improve education, health, culture and the promotion of income-generating activities for women. The IVHQ Women Empowerment program aims to empower women through improving literacy levels and assisting with professional development. McKay will be in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, but will also visit other cities as time allows.

Christopher Brooks, Dr.phil., took three ESU students to hear Angela Riley, J.D., professor at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law, deliver a lecture titled The History of Native American Lands and the Supreme Court on November 14, 2012, at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hosted the event. The three students are Demetrius Lindsey, a senior majoring in communication studies from Reading, Pa.; Scott Meade, a senior majoring in history from Kingston, Pa.; and Thomas Fail a graduate student from Warrington, Pa, studying management and leadership.  Prior to the lecture, Dr. Brooks and his students met briefly with U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania Robert P. Casey and were given a tour of the Senate. The trip was funded by ESU’s American Democracy Project (ADP) chapter, which Brooks has helped lead for the past five years. ADP is a non-partisan, multi-campus initiative focused on higher education’s role in preparing the next generation of informed, engaged citizens for American democracy.

Alla L. Wilson, Ph.D., dean of the ESU College of Business and Management, participated in the American Council on Education (ACE) 80th National Women’s Leadership Forum at the Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel from December 5 – 7, 2012, in Arlington, Va. Fifty senior level women administrators from across the country were chosen for the annual three-day leadership program for those who seek to further their careers in higher education administration and form a national network of women higher education administrators. The topics included: leading a campus through a crisis, fundraising fundamentals, media relations training and understanding the challenges of women as leaders in higher education.

Dr. Wilson also participated in the Women Administrators in Higher Education Fifth Annual Conference titled Redefining Leadership: Navigating the Politics of Higher Education, on September 21, 2012, at the National Center for Higher Education in Washington, D.C.  She presented at a session titled Microaggression and Bullying in Higher Education: Impact on Leadership, along with Fatima Goss Graves, vice president for education and employment at the National Women’s Law Center. Women Administrators in Higher Education is an informal network of women professionals from national higher education associations and D.C. metropolitan area colleges and universities.

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