N.C. A&T’s Davis Named a Rhoden Fellow for ESPN’s The Undefeated

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (July 22, 2021) – Alexis Davis, a senior multimedia journalism student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, was selected to participate in ESPN’s The Undefeated fifth class of Rhoden Fellows along with five peers from historically Black colleges and universities. The fellowship, a year-long sports journalism training program, provides HBCU undergraduate students with opportunities to cover general and sport-related news for their respective campuses. Davis is A&T’s third fellow, following East Dockery and Donovan Dooley’s participation in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

“The opportunity to work with the worldwide leader of sports, ESPN, is just what it sounds like, a dream come true,” said Davis, who also serves as a staff writer for the A&T Register and editorial intern for Her Campus. “If it was not for getting introduced to the program by Professor David Squires and the weekly challenges in his courses to become better, I would not be here.”

William C. Rhoden, a graduate of Morgan State University– Maryland’s largest public HBCU– and former award-winning sports columnist for the New York Times, founded the fellowship and joined The Undefeated in 2016 as a columnist and writer-at-large. The program bolsters the platform’s mission to “develop new voices and serve as an incubator for future sports journalists of color.”

“My deepest appreciation to The Undefeated and ESPN for their unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion in journalism through their investment to the Fellowship, said Rhoden. “Previous Fellows are already making their marks in journalism. We welcome the fifth class of talented Fellows and are excited to see the footprints they will leave.”

Rhoden and a panel of senior editors of the digital hub platform selected this year’s fellows.

Davis joins Keion Cage and Kianah Robinson-Chery (Hampton University), Sarah Jones-Smith (Howard University), Cayla Sweazie (Morgan State University) and Calvin Sykes (Florida A&M University) as correspondents who, in addition to writing for The Undefeated, will produce other forms of multimedia content that explores topics relevant to and affecting young people today.

Visit The Undefeated’s website to follow Davis’ reports.