No professor had a bigger impact on future ESPN talent recruitment director Carol Voronyak ('04) than Laurence “Larry” Parker.
“I met Dr. Parker while serving as the student-athlete representative on the athletic board. It was my senior year, and Dr. Parker and I were discussing my career goals beyond college," she says.
"I told him I was studying broadcast journalism and that I’d love to work at a place ‘like ESPN.’
“Little did I know that he was great friends with the head of production hiring at ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. He asked me if I would like an introduction, and I jumped at the chance. A phone interview in February led to an in-person interview in April and I found out the Friday before graduation that I was going to get a chance to start as a production assistant at the best network in the country.
“Never mind the fact that it was $9 an hour, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. with Tuesdays and Wednesdays off. This was my dream.
"If it wasn’t for Larry offering to connect me, who knows how my life would have turned out?”
