The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss, MSU Featured On First-Of-Its-Kind Website
8/19/2009 | Athletics
OXFORD, Miss. - The University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University have joined the 10 other Southeastern Conference institutions to launch the SEC Academic Network, a Web site designed to promote academic endeavors of SEC universities using ESPN360.com technology.
The Web site, http://www.secacademicnetwork.com, was rolled out this morning.
"We're excited about the chance to give millions of people a broad view of the academic, service and research work that make the University of Mississippi a unique and valuable part of the state, national and world communities," said Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones. "Our faculty and students are among the best in the world, and we're looking forward to telling their amazing stories through this collaborative effort with our conference partners."
MSU President Mark Keenum is just as enthusiastic, saying, "This is an unparalleled opportunity to showcase some of Mississippi State's key institutional strengths in research and outreach, two of the guiding themes of the launch. We're committed to generating quality video that portrays the outstanding accomplishments of our faculty, staff and students in these areas."
The SEC Communicators Association, composed of key institutional communications professionals, worked collaboratively to develop major themes and guidelines for the project, he added. Institutional support for the project at Ole Miss and MSU is being provided by their athletics departments.
"The ESPN internship and the 'campus connection' program ESPN has provided each SEC institution will enable our journalism students to gain an unparalled experience in television production and communications practices," said UM Athletics Director Pete Boone.
MSU Athletic Director Greg Byne agrees, saying, "The No. 1 defining principle in our athletics department is to provide a quality education. Our support of the SEC Academic Network reinforces our commitment to the importance of the academic quality at Mississippi State."
The Academic Network, established by the SEC in partnership with ESPN and the member universities, features content from every institution about its research, innovation, economic development, community partnerships, civic engagement and service activities.
On the Web site, each institution has a page for its videos categorized by topic. Alumni, fans and students worldwide have the ability in one place to learn more about SEC academics through video features that are posted by the league institutions.
Developed using technology and coordination from ESPN Digital Media and Origin Digital, the Academic Network is a component of the SEC's 15-year television package with ESPN, which is the most comprehensive in the history of intercollegiate athletics.
"The commitment to highlight the accomplishments of SEC member institution academic programs was a key component of our new television agreements," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. "We are grateful to ESPN for bringing the expertise and tools they use in sports media to our institutions in support of academic pursuits."
Ole Miss and MSU will be adding new content to the Web site regularly, so both encourage their faculty, staff, students, alumni and fans to visit http://www.secacademicnetwork.com http://www.secacademicnetwork.com often.
For more news from the University of Mississippi, visit http://news.olemiss.edu.