ESPN president headlines sports conference at St. Norbert College

George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN Inc. and ABC Sports and co-chair, Disney Media Networks, will be one of the featured speakers at the academic conference “A Mirror of Our Culture: Sport and Society in America” next May at St. Norbert College.

The national conference, which will be hosted by the college and the Green Bay Packers, will run May 22, 23 and 24.  Bodenheimer will speak to conference attendees at 7 p.m. May 23 at Michels Commons on the St. Norbert College campus.

 An ESPN and cable industry pioneer, George Bodenheimer is the company’s longest-tenured top executive and has led an unprecedented period of growth for ESPN.  In 1998, he was named ESPN’s fifth president since the company’s launch in 1979.  In 2003, he was also appointed president of ABC Sports, overseeing all the multimedia sports assets of The Walt Disney Company, and in 2004 he assumed the role of co-chairman, Disney Media Networks, encompassing strategic planning for Disney’s media assets.

This is the second conference of its kind put on by St Norbert and the Packers. The first conference was held in 2010. This partnership between an NFL team and an institution of higher education brings together academics and business professionals from around the country. The Packers have held their summer training camp at St. Norbert College for 54 years, the longest such relationship between a pro football team and a college in the NFL.

Presentation or paper abstracts will be accepted until Jan. 23, 2012 with notification of acceptances shortly thereafter, following review by the conference steering committee. Formal conference registration will open on Feb.1, 2012, and close on April 1, 2012. Registration will be limited.

For more information on the conference, go to www.snc.edu/sportandsociety.