Sports and Society Program

Who We Are

The program is led by director Tom Farrey, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and author of the ESPN book, Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children. Farrey’s work over the years has explored the connections between sports and key themes in society -- education, globalization, technology, race, religion, poverty and ethics, among others.

As a journalist, Farrey (@TomFarrey on Twitter) has delivered reports for ESPN's Outside the Lines, SportsCenter and E:60, ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America, and in print for the Seattle Times, Business Week, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. He is a contributing writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. A University of Florida graduate, he has lectured at many universities, moderated panels at gatherings such as the Aspen Ideas Festival, and in 2004 and '06 served as Master of Ceremonies at the National Youth Sports Awards hosted by the Positive Coaching Alliance. He was one of seven media members selected in 2007 among the "100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America" by the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island. Two of his television stories have won Emmy awards, and his written work has earned top national honors from such organizations as the Women's Sports Foundation and Asian American Journalists Association. Game On, a journalistic survey of the culture of modern youth sports, is a required text in courses at  universities across the country. He has directed the Sports & Society since its launch in May 2011.

The Sports & Society Advisory Board includes the following members:

Former Congressman Tom McMillen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Homeland Security Capital Corporation, and previously Co-Chair of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports; William Mayer, Co-Founder, Park Avenue Equity Partners, L.P., and Chairman Emeritus, The Aspen Institute; Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Senior Director of Advocacy, Women’s Sports Foundation, and Olympic champion swimmer; Robin Schepper, Senior Advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center's Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative and former Executive Director of the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative; Beth Brooke, Global Vice Chair of Public Policy, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, Ernst & Young; Mike Richter, Partner, Environmental Capital Partners, and former NHL All-Star; Craig Robinson, head men's basketball coach, Oregon State University; Mara Smith, EdD, Co-Founder and Director of the Lake Placid Sport Forum, and a sport psychology educational consultant; Jim Spiegelman, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, The Aspen Institute; and Charlie Firestone, Executive Director, Communications & Society Program, The Aspen Institute; and Carolyn Tisch Sussman, former advertising executive.