The College of Human Services and Health Professions (HSHP) has announced the establishment of a degree program in Sport Management, to be offered beginning in Fall 2005.
The 124-credit program will lead to a BS in Sport Management and allow students to pursue interests in such areas as athlete development, counseling and advising; sport marketing and promotion; sport product, equipment and apparel marketing; sport events planning; arena management; "sport-themed" hospitality; and related sport fields.
"Sport Management is a business-based, academically rigorous program that will prepare our students to pursue a wide range of careers in what has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States," says HSHP Dean Bruce W. Lagay. "As part of the College of Human Services and Health Professions, the program will contribute to our mission to train professionals who will provide health, wellness and recreational services that focus on the emotional and physical well being of individuals, families and communities."
Legay adds, "The program is a natural extension of and complement to the college's Hospitality Management program. It will also draw from the college's strengths in nutrition, health and psychological and social wellbeing."
After a period of intensive research and planning, HSHP faculty and staff created a Sport Management program plan that was then presented to the University Senate, the Board of Trustees and the New York State Department of Education, all of which subsequently approved the program. Student recruitment began this summer, and a search is under way for a program director. Accreditation will be sought from the National Association for Sport Management and the North American Society for Sport Management.
The curriculum combines program-specific courses with professional electives and liberal arts requirements. Coursework covers such areas as marketing, management, communications, societal influences and impacts, ethics and law. Up to 12 elective credits allow students to pursue a concentration or minor and tailor their studies according to their professional interests.
The centerpiece of the program is the required internship. "The internship puts students right in the middle of things and allows them to really experience the sport industry even before they graduate," says HSHP Associate Dean Michael J. Olivette, who will oversee the program until a director is hired. Internship settings may include professional sport teams, amateur sport organizations, sport facilities, community and industrial sport programs, sport marketing and consulting firms, sport media organizations, athletic associations and conferences, the sporting goods industry and athletic departments at colleges and universities, including SU.
An 18-credit minor in Sport Management is also planned. "We believe there are many students on campus, with a variety of different majors, who have an interest in sport," says Olivette. The minor program will most likely be presented to the University Senate this semester, and could be implemented as early as
Fall 2005.
HSHP faculty and staff members are currently working on the development of a second new degree program in Health and Wellness. "Together with Sport Management, Health and Wellness will expand and enhance the college's mission, allowing us to address, in the broadest sense, the work of healthy community development," says Olivette. The Health and Wellness program is expected to be implemented in Fall 2006.
For more information about the Sport Management program, contact Olivette at 443-9630 or mjolivet@syr.edu.
