Getting a Job in
SPORTS Management Basing your career on one class is the academic equivalent of a Hail Mary pass. But that hasn’t stopped recent alumni from landing jobs in the industry. By Genna Welsh Kasun ’06
“There’s a grassroots interest in sport management,” says Randy Rosenberger, a professor in accounting, business and economics at Juniata, who teaches the course. For the last five years, his class has been filled. Since then, Juniata grads from varying POEs have gone on to management, marketing and coaching careers with the Philadelphia Eagles, colleges and universities including Kenyon and Transylvania, and athletic conferences. “The course provides an examination of industry concerns that aren’t so different from other courses I teach, like Human Resource Management,” Rosenberger says. “For example, not so long ago the National Hockey League lost an entire season to a labor force management issue.” There’s a paper and a textbook for the course, but, for most of the class time, students give presentations on controversial sports topics like performance enhancement drugs, scholarships
for Division III collegiate athletes, and more. In fact, class discussions often go on for several class periods before losing interest. There’s also a competition, modeled after ESPN’s Around the Horn, that forces students to debate questions that blend fun and business, like “Will Tiger Woods win another major?” For some students, Rosenberger’s course has been a game changer. Kelly Rotan ’10 turned an internship with Pink Zone, a Lady Lions breast cancer benefit game at Penn State Athletics, into a career with the university. “Being on the sidelines at games and creating halftime events is awesome,” Rotan says. “Professor Rosenberger teaches in a way that enables students to get a better understanding of what the real world is really like—and not just in sports.” Recently, Rotan became assistant women’s basketball coach at Yale University. Rosenberger modestly insists that Juniata’s focus on discussion-based courses is the secret to alumni success, adding, “We’ve moved entirely away from lecture.”
www.juniatasports.net
For more information on athletics outcomes, check out bit.ly/jcsportsoutcomes
6
juniata / Winter ’12
Much of the Juniata curriculum hinges on students’ independence. They design their own POEs, pursue topics of their own interest in undergraduate research and undertake independent study courses. But, as with Sport Management, a strong professor is always at center court—be it while a student interns at Juniata Athletics or as they take other courses, like Sports Literature.