Drake Keeler served as the Lynn and Dana Roper Visiting Lecturer from January to May 2024. Keeler is a 2022 journalism graduate of the CoJMC and a content creator at Hurrdat Sports. As part of his lectureship, he lead and advised the college's newest student involvement organization, the Multicultural Students in Media Club.
While at the university, Keeler advocated for students of color on campus and in the Lincoln community. In October 2020, he led an online project for the Daily Nebraskan focused on telling Black stories on campus centered around Black Lives Matter.
He also helped launch The Daily Nebraskan Diversity and Inclusion Board to foster more inclusive coverage and a more diverse newsroom. The establishment of the board was an extension of the Black Lives Matter project and a way for Keeler to make a lasting impact.
Keeler used his experience in sports writing, first at Hail Varsity and now at Hurrdat, and his experience building the Diversity and Inclusion Board, to build the club, while working with students in the Unlimited Sports Experience Lab.
"One of the things we're taught in school is how media is constantly changing and will continue to change throughout your entire career," Keeler said. "And in a dynamic field like media, finding people you can go to, who support you, is crucial when you're part of an underrepresented community."
Keeler wants the club to be a place for underrepresented students to connect, build a diverse community and use their voices to foster change in media and mass communications.
"A big part of this club is about building the community because in Nebraska, those spaces can be hard to find," Keeler said. "It's important to me that I'm able to help establish that."
The Lynn and Dana Roper Fund encourages and rewards sports writing among journalism students by supporting a visiting sportswriter to work with students at the college and sponsoring the annual sports writing contest. Keeler won the Roper Sports Writing Competition while a student in the CoJMC.
