On Wednesday April 12, the Newhouse Sports Media Center will welcome several members of the Syracuse Athletics creative team. Mike Lang G’16, Todd Michalek, Van Norris, Jack Phillips and Kyle Rubin will speak to Newhouse students about their creative work with the athletics department as part Professor Kligerman’s Sports Content for Social Content course. The event is open to the Newhouse community.
Prior to joining the Newhouse Sports Media Center and the Television, Radio and Film department, Professor Kligerman was the Assistant Athletic Director for Creative at Syracuse. The torch was passed to Lang who is the current Assistant Athletics Director for Creative Services. He oversees all the graphic design and video production for social media, commercials, in-arena productions and special events, along with supervising a group of student interns.
Before his current role, Lang was a marketing graphic artist, then a video producer for the athletics department. Prior to joining the staff at Syracuse University, he interned with the Syracuse Chiefs, Syracuse Athletics and the Charlotte Hornets. He earned his master’s degree in television, radio and film at Newhouse.
Michalek is the athletic department’s lead photographer. He began his photography career when he joined the Marine Corps in 2011. During the final year of his enlistment, he began using his weekends to photograph high school sports in Jacksonville, working as a freelance photographer for the Jacksonville Daily News. He eventually began working full time as a photographer for The New Bern Sun Journal in New Bern, NC.
He earned his master’s degree in multimedia storytelling from Newhouse in April 2021. During his time as a student, he photographed Syracuse athletes for the athletics department. Additionally, he has also done freelance work for the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, among other outlets.
Norris is a creative content producer for the athletics department, a role he’s occupied since 2021. He oversees the planning, shooting, editing and post-production of video content for social media, Cuse.com and in-game presentations. Norris also ran his own content production company, Norrisvision LLC, which aimed to improve marketing and overall branding for clients.
Prior to joining the Syracuse staff, he worked as an independent contractor for various companies, improving marketing for many athletes. He has continued his freelance work, creating content for numerous NFL athletes, high school teams and a training facility in Naperville, IL. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management from Aurora University, where he also played football.
The discussion will cover the entire mission of the Creative team and how they keep up with trends in Sports Creative in an ever changing landscape. Lunch will be provided.
Please contact msmith@syr.edu for accommodations.