The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 1, 2008 Page: 5 of 20
twenty pages : ill. ; page 19 x 15 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE RICE THRESHER NEWS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1,2008
Proposals for Sport Management
major now under committee review
by Joyce Yao
THRESHER STAFF
The Undergraduate Curriculum
Committee is currently reviewing
proposals for an independent sport
management major. Under these pro-
posals, the sport management major
would not fall under the umbrella
degree of kinesiology that currently
covers the concentrations of sport
management, health sciences and
sports medicine.
The Committee will vote on a pro-
posal when it meets later this month.
The issues currently under dis-
cussion at the UGCC are primarily
directed at the logistics of a sport
management major. Committee
member Christine Moran said the
two biggest issues discussed at
the meeting last Monday were the
placement of a sport management
major within the School of Humani-
ties and the sustainability of the
program that currently does not
have any tenured track professors
or a permanent director.
"It's not that people don't agree
with [the proposal], there's just
been a lot of technical questions
about it," Moran, a Martel College
junior, said.
English Professor Terrence
Doody, committee co-chair, said the
proposal had the support of the Dean
of Humanities Gary Wihl and there
have been plans made for the hiring
of tenured track professors.
However, Doody said there are
many committee members who
would still like to see more stability
before sport management officially
a major, since there have been cases
where departments have dissolved
in the past.
The current sport management
program centers largely on. the
work of Sport Management Direc-
tor Clark Haptonstall. Uncertainty
over whether Haptonstall, who
has helped to revamp the kinesiol-
ogy program and shape the sport
management major into something
distinct, would stay at Rice was also
a primary concern at the meeting.
Doody said the lack of associate
professors to take over as chairs
of programs made this particularly
problematic.
Haptonstall said he sees no rea-
son to leave Rice.
"At Rice University, we have
the potential to develop the most
respected undergraduate sport
management major in the world, and
I am committed to lead that charge,"
Haptonstall said.
Rice's sport management pro-
gram has reached the highest level
of academic achievement, having
been granted approval status by the
North American Society of Sport
Management and the Sport Man-*
agement Program Review Council,
Haptonstall said.
Sport management, which fo-
cuses on the business aspects of
sports instead of the scientific and
medicinal aspects that kiniseology
focuses on, has been available at Rice
as a track program under kinesiology
since the early 1980s, but proposals
to make it an independent field only
recently came to the attention of
the administration. The kinesiology
department was one of the first to
emphasize internal concentrations,
such as sport management, within
the major.
I"he sport management concen-
tration's popularity increased in
recent years as the program devel-
oped under Haptonstall's leadership,
and with almost a hundred students
currently enrolled in the kinesiology-
sport management track, students
have been requesting a more stream-
lined major that is independent of
kinesiology.
"We are very proud of this
INASSM Program Approval) since
it was a very big step for us,"
Haptonstall said. "We've... gone
through all the processes of rede-
veloping the curriculum, adding
faculty members, and adding the
academic rigor necessary. We've
exceeded the guidelines set on
almost every stage and feel that
our program is very strong."
Haptonstall has been largely
responsible for implementing im-
provements to the major over the
past four years. He said the kinesiol-
ogy and sport management depart-
ments have been working on the
program's proposal for almost two
years, with the goal of providing for
Rice students with a degree that can
accurately reflect their field of study
when they graduate.
'At Rice University,
we have the potential
to develop the
most respected
undergraduate sport
management major in
the world, and I am
committed to lead that
charge.'
— Clark Haptonstall
Director of Sport Management
Professor and Chair of Health
Sciences Nicholas lammarino said
an independent sport management
major would also increase the pro-
gram's visibility on campus. Since
sport management is currently
listed under kinesiology, students
have been overlooking the program
as an option of study because Ki-
nesiology is not readily associated
with Sport Management.
"I've been here five years, and I've
had a lot of juniors and seniors take
sport management classes that didn't
know we had sport management as
an option," Haptonstall said. "When
students look at the list of majors in
the catalog, sport management is
not listed."
Hanzsen College senior Ben
Jedlovec, a kinesiology major, voiced
similar concerns.
"The first time I found out about
[the sport management optionl
was when I literally went through
the catalog and saw 'sport manage-
ment' under kinesiology," Jedlovec
said. "Unless you do a thorough
search or stumble across it, you
won't find it."
Haptonstall said a sport man-
agement major would help future
students in their career fields by
accurately defining their field of
study in college since there are no
other requirements except sport
management courses.
lammarino said this is so because
historically Rice has always had sport
management as only a curricular
track program. He said the degree of
specialization required by the kine-
siology program was comparable to
majoring in sport management.
"Students studying in the sport
management program are currently
majoring in it without it being of-
ficially called a sport management
major," lammarino said.
Hapotonstall said the kinesiol-
ogy major could also be misleading
and that the sports management
program reflected efforts to give stu-
dents a degree that more accurately
reflected what they studied.
"We have a lot of students who
graduate and go on to get an MBA,
or go to law school, where almost all
of them have to explain in interviews
why they have a Kinesiology degree,"
Haptonstall said.
Although current plans do not
include any proposed changes to the
sport management program except
for the name change, Kinesiology
major Matt McCabe said he hopes
the program will be able to raise
more funds and increase the level of
research done in the realm of sport
management.
"[It] will help enhance [student]
desire to use the degree productively,
and become either a sport manage-
ment professor or a worker in that
career field," McCabe, a Will Rice
College senior, said.
Jedlovec also thinks that an of-
ficial sport management major will
enhance student connection with
sport teams in Houston.
"We currently have contacts with
sport teams and organizations such
as the Dynamo, Rockets and the
Astros," Jedlovec said. "The new
major will form a more beneficial
relationship between Rice and the
organizations."
JOHN E. PARISH
FELLOWSHIP
for Summer Travel
Wiess College announces competition for the 2008
John E. Parish Fellowship. The winner of the Parish
Fellowship will receive support of approximately 2
months travel during the Summer of 2008. The
purpose of the fellowship is to enhance the
undergraduate education of the Fellow by
broadening the range of experience via individual
travel. All full-time returning undergraduates at
Rice are eligible. For further information, call the
Wiess College
coordinator (713-348-5743), or see the web page at
www.ruf.rice.edu/~parish.
Deadline for application is Friday, February 15, 2008
POLICE BLOTTER
The following were reported to the Rice University Police Department
for the period Jan. 23-31.
Residential Colleges
South College Quad
Academic Buildings
Sewall Hall
Other Areas
Off Campus
Off Campus
Off Campus
Jan. 25 Theft
Jan. 23 Theft
Jan. 25 Criminal mischief
Jan. 26 Posession of marijuana
Jan. 28 Aggravated robbery
STUDENT ASSOCIATION
The Student Association met Monday. The following were discussed:
■ Director of Elections Andrew Bowen said submissions for petitions to
get on the ballot for spring elections are due Monday at 5 p.m. Approval
of the election code will take place at 10 p.m. Thresher blurbs for candi-
dates are due Tuesday.
■ Students interested in running for a position can find an application on
the SA website at sa.rice.edu.
■ Wellness Center Director Emily Paige said students are encouraged to
participate in the National College Health Assessment. The test will compare
student health at Rice with that of peer institutions. The survey will be avail-
able Monday and students have three weeks to complete the 60-question
survey. Students can e-mail wellness@rice.edu for the survey.
■ SA Sports and Health Committee chair Tommy Mings said the committee
hopes to organize an all-star soccer game this semester. The committee
will look into listing the health clubs and organizations available at Rice
on the wellness center website.
♦
■ Julia Bursten, a member of philosophy society Rice for Thought, said the
group will host a philosophy conference Feb. 8 and 9. Bursten, a Lovett
College senior, said the group needs additional funding to provide for the
speakers invited to attend the conference and asked the SA for $200.
The SA voted to table the decision until Monday.
■ Rice University Police Department Chief Bill Taylor said students should
take care to register their bikes to deter thefts to campus, which h^ive
increased since winter break. In response to several students' inquiries
about providing a database for the confisoated-by-RUPD items, he said
the SA should head the efforts to provide . \e database and Operation ID
at the individual colleges.
■ Brown Senator Patrick McAnaney said clubs have generally accepted
the recent Recycling Bill but they want a better system of organizing the
recycling methods. Until the system is instated, the bill will stay on hold.
■ Internal Vice President Matt Youn, a Brown College junior, said the
SA and the Student Center are creating Monday night tournaments, and
winners of the tournaments will play in a regional tournament held at the
University of Houston. The next tournament will be Monday at 7 p.m.
■ The SA approved Parliamentarian Chris Warrington's voluntary departure
from the elections committee. The senate approved Hanszen senior Evan
Mintz to replace Warrington.
■ Director of Communications Stephen Rooke said the petition to become
the next Sammy the Owl is available on the SA website.
The next Student Association meeting will be Monday at 10 p.m. in the
Farnsworth Pavilion.
■
^ V
- r- -
• * ' ~ v *
#
1 v
ALL you*
AHAV
www.rice.edu/coffeehouse
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Whitfield, Stephen. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 1, 2008, newspaper, February 1, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443053/m1/5/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.