North Texas Daily

Brittany Armstrong // Intern Writer

The UNT Career Center is hosting an information session this Wednesday for ESPN’s Production, Information, and Statistics group to recruit future employees. The session is being held in room 180 of the Business Leadership Building from 4:15 to 6 p.m.

The event is free, but students are asked to register ahead of time by going to the Career Center’s web page – www.careercenter.unt.edu – and logging in through the eagle network using your regular UNT login.

The Information and Statistics group at ESPN handles behind-the-scenes statistical information about players and teams.

Director of the Career Center Bonita Vinson said the Information and Statistics group is the central part of what makes ESPN great.

“We see the anchors and they come with a lot of stats and tell us about players and what’s happening with the teams and coaches and that whole industry, but behind all that is this group,” she said.

Assistant director of the Career Center, Mark Pullam, approached ESPN to get them to come to UNT. Pullam is part of the Center’s Employer Development Team.

“Our mission is to recognize employers that have not utilized UNT in the past and are employers that students really want to work for,” he said. “We go after those big fish and see if we can get them on campus.”

Pullam was able to entice ESPN to make a visit to UNT by informing him of the school’s decisions sciences program. The degree program entails a lot of work with data mining, statistics, and information technology.

“We are one of the few universities in the country that has decision sciences,” he said.

While ESPN was initially attracted to UNT for the program, the session is open to students of all majors and expertise. Vinson and Pullam encourage students of all different majors to attend.

“They have opportunities in not just statistics and information delivery, but also in creative design, web design and human resources,” Vinson said. “There are so many opportunities.”

Hosting companies like ESPN is just a small fraction of what they do at the Career Center. It provides students with skills they can take with them into the professional world such as resume construction, mock interviews, internship opportunities, and mentorship programs.

Vinson encourages students to interact with the Career Center in their first year at UNT and to continue to visit at least once every semester.

“We find that students that do that, by the time they graduate, not only do they have a job, or are ready for graduate or professional school, they’re on their way to it,” Vinson said. “There’s no guessing; they know what they’re going to do.”

Feature photo: Assistant Director of Career Center Mark Pullam is in charge of the ESPN information session held on March 26. Positions include BottomLine Editor, Stats Analyst, and Production Researcher. All major students who are interested in sports are welcomed. Photo by Zixian Chen / Senior Staff Photographer