ESPN's Ley to talk Monday at College of Communication and the Arts convocation

[caption id="attachment_11551" align="alignnone" width="615"] ESPN[/caption]   Seton Hall alumni and ESPN host Bob Ley will speak at the College of Communication and the Arts convocation on Monday, Oct. 26 in the Jubilee Hall auditorium. The ceremony, which requires the attendance of students majoring within the college but is open to all, will start at 6:30 p.m. Ley, a veteran of the Worldwide Leader since 1979, has been the anchor of Outside the Lines the past 25 years in addition to hosting SportsCenter and FIFA World Cup coverage on the network. He said he was happy to accept an invitation to be a keynote speaker at his alma mater.

“I was invited by Dean (Deirdre) Yates, whose very kind invitation I received, but it was one I accepted immediately because obviously the elevation to College of the Communication and the Arts is very important to me,” Ley said. “It really is a transformational time for the university... We’re in a very good growth phase with a lot of encouraging, important positives going for the school and obviously the Communication and the Arts – the fact that it’s now a college – fits right into that.” A college since the start of the academic year, the evolution of the Communication and the Arts program is designed to better compete with other local schools and accommodate the ever-growing number of students enrolling in such majors. Ley said the college status should have an impact on the Hall’s ability to attract students, guest speakers and new faculty while improving the university’s reputation.

“It just puts us on a higher plane, and that’s a very good thing,” he said. Ley also mentioned that the program’s growth is personally important to him. “I wouldn’t be where I was if not for the education I received at Seton Hall,” he said. “The fact that we’re now elevating it to a college is very close to my heart.”   Gary Phillips can be reached at gary.phillips@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @GPhillips2727.