Three Oklahoma State University sports media majors landed highly-competitive, paid season-long internships with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s communications department.  The Thunder tip off the 2015-16 season Wednesday versus the visiting San Antonio Spurs in a Western Conference showdown of two of the top teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

 

Thomas Chapman (junior, Tulsa), Lauren Russell (junior, Oklahoma City), and Ashleigh Young (senior, Santa Ana, Calif.) from the OSU Sports Media program are slated to work for the Thunder tonight and in every home game during the season.

 

“We are pleased to offer Ashleigh, Lauren and Thomas positions within our Basketball Communications Department for the 2015-16 season,” said Matt Tumbleson, Director of Basketball Communications for the Thunder. “I’ve been impressed with the Oklahoma State Sports Media Program and I look forward to a continued relationship with the university moving forward.”

 

Dan Mahoney, the Thunder’s Vice President of Broadcasting and Corporate Communications, has visited Stillwater multiple times to guest lecture in clinical associate professor Gina’s Noble Sports Public Relations class. John Read, the Thunder’s Coordinator of Basketball Communications, annually guest lectures to Dr. Ted Kian’s Contemporary Sports Media class and has also come to Stillwater to speak to OSU’s Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM) chapter.

 

Additionally, other students from the OSU Sports Media program and School of Media and Strategic Communications will work Thunder home games for the events or marketing staff as paid game-day assistants.

 

“The Thunder are one of the best run professional organizations in sport,” said Dr. Kian, OSU Welch-Bridgewater Endowed Chair of Sports Media. “We are fortunate that their staff continuously supports our Sports Media program through visits to Stillwater. More important, the Thunder recognize the quality of OSU Sports Media by hiring our students,” 

 

Founded in 2009, the OSU Sports Media program is the largest stand-alone sports media major in the world, with students who graduated from high school in 38 different U.S. states enrolled in the OSU Sports Media program over the past two academic years. Students garnering experiences both within and outside of the classroom is the primary focus of OSU Sports Media.

 

Many students work for student media outlets such as the O’Colly (student newspaper), OStateTV.com (the OSU television station), KXZY (OSU’s student radio station), and the Pioneer Media team, which produces multimedia content on the Stillwater High School football team.

 

In addition, OSU athletics is a frequent employer of OSU Sports Media majors. The OSU Sports Media program accounts for all 13 student assistants in the OSU athletics communications offices (two graduate students, 11 undergraduates) and 13 student assistants for Orange Power Studios, the video-production arm of OSU athletics.