BS Sport Management Curriculum Map

 

Hi! Check out this video with information about A-State Bachelor of Science Sport Management's Curriculum Map. 

Program level goals: 

1. Demonstrate knowledge of fundamental sport management research, principles, strategies, and practice
2. Effectively applying a variety of oral and written business and professional communication skills
3. Demonstrate understanding and competence with behavioral expectations related to ethical good practice and conduct in the workplace

Advising

[ As of Spring 2022 I am only taking in new advisees from the B.S. Sport Management Online program. If you are a current advisee or in the online program read on. If you are in the B. S. Sport Management traditional program you can contact Dr. Ternes (nternes@astate.edu) or Dr. Yu (hyu@aste.edu) for advising. M. S. Sport Adminstration traditional students are advised by Dr. Church (bchurch@astate.edu) , and M. S. Sport Administration Online students are advised By Dr. LaVetter (lavetter@astate.edu). ]

One of the privileges of my faculty and undergraduate coordinator position is that I get to advise students.  I relish the time I spend talking to you about you.  This is the time we talk about your hopes and dreams, I help you plan for your future (I get giddy about this. It's my bread and butter!), and I make the time I wish I could dedicate to you each class and each day during the whole semester.  During this time we plan a course-path to best reach those hopes and dreams.

There are, however, important things I want you to keep in mind about advising.   Advising is by its very nature a recommendation.  In this case, a professor (me) making a recommendation of possible courses you can take in an upcoming term based on the information at hand.  This recommendation is not the only option.  I have your best interest at heart and will advise what I think best, but I am not even remotely close to perfect.  It is up to you to decide what is best for you, because you know you best. You can find course offerings here.

Second, my advice does not transfer the responsibility for your degree or the fulfillment of your degree requirements onto me.  You must be familiar with your degree requirements.  At Arkansas State, these are listed in the bulletin of the year you are enrolled in.  Typically this is the school-year when you first enrolled.  There is a repository of bulletins on the A-State website.  Familiarize yourself with yours and take charge.  You can get a snapshot of what courses you still need to take in your degree works.  The Registrar's website has information on how to access it. You can also find how to access it in the video below. 

Email me a list of courses you want to take with a PDF of your degree works tracker. Once I evaluate the courses based on your degree tracker I will remove your hold. You may also make an advising appointment on PackSupport after you send me the degree tracker and course list email. 

Best wishes in the upcoming term!!

Debt free education

    Some of you know from my courses I am a big advocate of staying out of debt.  I try to sneak in a lesson, or at least bonus points activities about going through school debt free whenever I can.  It should come as no surprise that this is one of my favorite podcasts.  I recommend this to all my students: Undergraduates, graduates, advisees, in the cafeteria, randomly.  

    I do this because I love you, because I do not want you to be in bondage, because I want you to own your future, and I want you to experience the real freedom that comes with an education without strings.  I have seen so many of you through my years at A-State, and so many before you wish they had heard this earlier.  So let me say it loud and clear.  You pay attention now, apply yourself.  Listen to this podcast and use what you learn.  Come see me if you don't understand, I will give you a hand grasping ideas and brainstorming options.  The Financial Aid and Scholarships office is also there to help you, just remember loans, grants, and scholarships are three different things.  

    Keep your ear to the ground and do not miss out on program, department, and college scholarships.  It is a shame when those go unused and you are going around borrowing money. Make it easier for future you! What other scholarship opportunities are out there? Share links in the comments so other students can see them. Share the wealth!

How can I help?

        Just like Todd Winn, I also want to silence my privileged voice.  I may not be as privileged as White, able-bodied, middle-class, heterosexual, Christian men (Goodman, 2001). You see me.  You see my gender.  You see my brownness.  You hear my accent and my broken English at times (Take the mis-spelling in my picture as an example.  Someone pointed it out to me. It was not intentional).  I stick out like a sore thumb when I walk into a room; and I know, that whether I like it or not, there may be some people there who are uncomfortable by my mere presence.  They will feel better if I "went back to where I came from", or quit "taking jobs away form hard working Americans".  Well, as a highly educated, employed, brown, middle class, English-speaking, green-card holder, protestant, I recognize my privilege and thank the good Lord for it.  

    I also see this troubled times are not about women, and not about brown people, and not about immigrants.  Right now is about our Black brothers and sisters, many of whom are my students and fellow professors and staff members.  They are suffering deep in their soul with a pain I pray I may never understand.  It is about standing with them, or kneeling, or taping our mouths, as the case may be.  It is about listening.  It is about stepping back and putting our wants aside for their sake, and the sake of this great country.  A wise, wise book reads: "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand" (Mark 3:24).  So how about we unite?  If we can't show support without compromising our values,  maybe we need to reevaluate them.  Here is one gamers perspective on it. 

    As a non-black, supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in social media is not enough.  So tell me how I can help you make my classroom and my office environments where you can thrive and feel safe in these trying times, Black students and White students alike.  Black students, how can I help you feel heard and supported?  White students, how can I help you hear you Black peers without hurting you or putting you on the defensive? Help me answer the question "How can I help?" 

Goodman, D. J. (2001). About privileged groups. In Winter Roundtable Series: Promoting diversity and social justice: Educating people from privileged groups (pp. 13-36). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781452220468.n2 SAGE Books - About Privileged Groups

Meet your prof

    This post does not have anything to do with school or advising, but hopefully it will help some of you relate to your profs.  

Do you know what your professors are up to? Well, I do not know what everyone else does outside school, but I can tell you what I do.  I am a follower of Christ, a wife, mother of 3 children and 2 pups. My oldest is all grown up and out of the house. My two youngest are girls, and they are toddlers now (Natalia, 4 is pictured above). I try to spend every minute I can with my husband and the kids. I read the Bible in Spanish every morning, record it, and upload it to SoundCloud and Facebook.  You know what is interesting? I understand it at a different level when I read it in my mother tongue. I am sure there is research on that. 

    Speaking of research, I am sure you have probably seen me bare my soul in a lesson (or a video, if you are an online student), or a few, over a semester, or a few.  If you haven't yet, go find one of my research articles. I am not sure I can tell you enough times how passionate I am about studying sexual harassment, its impact, causes, triggers, and possible interventions before and after it happens. I mostly study it in the context of sport, but I occasionally step out when I see an opportunity to make a statement or have positive impact.  Talk about baring my soul! I do it some more there. 

    I look forward to getting to know all of you, not just my advisees, more in depth. Please take advantage of my office hours and any and all other opportunities for interaction.  If you want to connect on social media, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  The Sport Management Club is another wonderful resource to get to know the Sport Management Faculty and your peers. You will also learn about cool volunteer and internship opportunities coming up.  What about you? What are you up to? 

Choosing your major

Everyday I get to come to work is a blessing, and that is how I want you to feel too.  Imagine if you get to do what you love every day, and you even get money for doing it?!?!  I have been thinking about how to help you get there.

I remember when I used to lose sleep over picking my major. I was paralyzed in fear. I felt like the rest of my life was at stake, and it was as big a decision as getting married, or having children.  Well intentioned people had so many suggestions.  My uncle wanted me to be an accountant, my mom wanted me to go into medicine, my dad though, he asked me: What do YOU want to do? and once I decided he was my biggest cheerleader!

Figuring it out seemed daunting, but it was actually surprisingly simple.  It was not easy, and doubt creeped in occasionally, but it was simple.  In this blog post I will share three tips for choosing a major: 1) know yourself, 2) know the job, and 3) find a cheerleader.

1) Know yourself
There are many personality tests that can help you identify what you enjoy doing, your God given gifts, or tasks that come easy to you.  You should think about taking them.  Some of them cost money but are well established and used often, like the Myers-Briggs personality type test, the DISC assessment, or strength finder.  There are also some free resources to get your started. like the limited free version DISC test, or this quiz.  I am unfamiliar with this college, but sport management ranked 4th, so the quiz is somewhat accurate.  Finally, if you want a quick assessment you can do right now you may want to answer Christy Wright's 5 E questions.
1) What do you ENJOY doing?
2) What comes EASY to you?
3) What do you EXCEL at?
4) What do other people ENCOURAGE you to do?
5) What ENERGIZES you?
You may have more than one answer to each question, but chances are there is something(s) that appears multiple times.  That would be a good starting point.

2) Know the job
My very artsy teen, who is not particularly interested in math would excel as an art major. After doing some research on salaries, he realized he did not like art enough to sacrifice the lifestyle he wants. So he moved on to research professions that "are" better (in his 15 year old mind). So he announced he was going to be an electrical engineer.  When my husband asked him what types of jobs he would do his response was: "I don't know, change lightbulbs?"  Clearly he focused his research on salaries, and paid no attention to course requirements or job descriptions.  Needless to say, electrical engineering got crossed off the list once he realized it went past changing lightbulbs and the amount of math that was going to be involved. Here is what I recommend you to look into when picking a major:
1) Job descriptions - does the job align fit your personality?
2) Course requirements - Do the classes in the major play to your strengths? You can look at your university's undergraduate (or graduate) bulletin for this.  Here is the one for A-State.
3) Potential earnings - Will this job be able to support.your lifestyle?
4) Unemployment rates - This will help you determine how hard it will be to find a job upon graduation.

3) Find a cheerleader - or many!
College can be challenging at times, no matter your major.  You may.get discouraged, doubt yourself, or need a little push.  Sometimes you may not even remember how that major plays to your strengths, or why you thought you would enjoy it. Take a second to think back and talk to people who support you and are in a position to advise you before you drop out or drift off to another major.  Your decisions need to be purposeful and deliberate so you do not graduate not knowing what to do with your degree. If you have any questions reach out, hopefully we (either me or someone in this community) can help.

In conclusion, Choosing a major can be a daunting task.  You need to first try to figure yourself out to the best of your ability, that way you can find a major that plays to your strengths and fits your personality.  Finally, we all doubt ourselves, specially in such important decisions, so surround . yourself with people who know you and can advise you wisely.

Welcome to college survival

Welcome welcome!

Exciting stuff is going on that is leading to the start of this blog.  This is a blog created to help disseminate information to my A-State advisees, but really all prospective, current, and maybe even former college students out there that need a little push, advise, perspective, or support.  I am excited to be here for you.

You might be a proactive high school student looking for ways to get the best out of college, or maybe you do not know where to to start, so you googled and stumbled across this blog.  Maybe you are a parent looking for some resources for your children. Maybe you are already in college and think you picked the wrong major, or need some motivation, or have forgotten why you thought this was a good idea in the first place.  You may even already be a professional and just want some resources to stay on top of your work.  Either way, this blog is for you.  I hope to encourage you, be helpful, give you some perspective, and start a virtual community to rally around you and support you.

In this blog you will encounter posts regarding sport management (as that is the major I advise), but also general college and professional advise.  The content will range from picking your major, to deciding to stay in a major, getting the most out of your classes, internship advise, career advice, among others. I am by no means an experts in all of those areas, but I will do my best, and I trust that the community that will subscribe to this blog will also provide valuable insight and information we can all use.

So, why are you here? are you a high school student, parent, college student, or college graduate? And what type of posts would you find most helpful?