Best Practices in Higher Education Graduate Programs: Preparing the Next Generation of Intercollegiate Athletics Administrators

Abstract

The commercialization of intercollegiate athletics since the turn of the 21st century has led to an increasingly prevalent view of college athletics as “Big-Time Sport” business enterprises [Bowen, W. G., & Levin, S. A. (2011). Reclaiming the game: College sports and educational values. Princeton, NJ: University Press;  Croissant, J. L. (2001). Can this campus be bought? Commercial influence in unfamiliar places. Academe, 87(5), 44–48; Lapchick, R. E. (2006). New game plan for college sport. Westport: Praeger; Sperber, M. (2000). Beer and circus: How big-time college sports has crippled undergraduate education. New York, NY: Macmillan.]. While college athletics often are associated with this big-business mentality in the media, the placement of intercollegiate athletics is fundamentally a functional unit nested within higher education institutions. To this end, the 21st century has marked a significant shift in the preparation patterns of intercollegiate athletic practitioners with programs that take a more holistic approach with curricula that encompass knowledge of higher education systems. This manuscript examines the career preparation patterns and graduate school experiences of aspiring intercollegiate athletic practitioners. Framed from a constructivist approach, this presentation draws from Kolb's [(1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall] Experiential Learning Theory to understand what contemporary professionals who aspire to work in intercollegiate athletics value in graduate preparation programs. This pilot study draws on the voices and narratives of graduate students who are currently completing athletic administration training, nested within higher education programs. Implications and recommendations are provided to inform and enhance graduate level preparation programs.

keywords:

• intercollegiate athletics
• graduate programs
• career development

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristina Navarro

Notes on Contributors

Kristina Navarro currently serves as Assistant Professor in the College of Education and Professional Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. In this role she coordinates the higher education athletic administration graduate program. She also serves as the Director of Student-Athlete Engagement for Warhawk Athletics.

Siduri J. Haslerig

Siduri J. Haslerig, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Adult and Higher Educationat the University of Oklahoma. She helps direct the IntercollegiateAthletics Administration Graduate Program.

Laura M. Bernhard

Laura M. Bernhard, PhD, is a Research Associate in the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. Her research interests include diversity, organizational contexts, and the experiences of student-athletes and students of color.

Derek A. Houston

Derek A. Houston, PhD, is a Researcher with the I-STEM Education Initiative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Adjunct Professor of Adult and Higher Education at the University of Oklahoma.

Valyncia C. Raphael

Valyncia C. Raphael, J.D. is a higher education law scholar and licensed attorney in Wisconsin. She is also a dissertator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education studying in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis department.