Academics
Miami's SLAM Department offers three majors, four minors, and a combined bachelor's and master's degree. Our programs are highly regarded by employers, professional schools, and other academic institutions, and our graduates go on to rewarding careers.
Overview
Internships and Insights: Building a Career in Sports
Majors
Students earn a Bachelor of Science in Sports Leadership and Management degree by completing one of three majors that prepare students to succeed in leadership positions in the sport industry (recreational to professional, youth to adult) by providing them with knowledge and skills to critically analyze and innovatively engage in the business and culture of sport.
Sport Management
The Sport Management major prepares students to succeed in leadership positions in the sport industry (recreational to professional, youth to adult) by providing them with knowledge and skills to critically analyze and innovatively engage in the business and culture of sport.
Sport Coaching
The Sport Coaching major prepares students to succeed in coaching interscholastic, collegiate, or professional sport. Graduates may seek careers with national governing bodies of Olympic sport or coaching education specialists in national or state organizations/associations. Students majoring in sport coaching may not also major in sport management or minor in coaching.
Sport Communication and Media
Fueled by an immense global interest in sport and sport information, intense fandom, and live sport consumption, the sport communication and media landscape is one full of opportunity and engagement. The Sport Communication and Media major leads to a Bachelor of Science in Sport Leadership and Management. This major provides a distinct set of courses and hands-on experiences to prepare students to enter this ever-changing and ever-growing sport environment.
Practicum and Internships
SLM 495: Practicum in Sport Leadership and Management MPC - Senior Capstone
This course is a practicum designed for Sport Leadership and Management majors but open to all students of all majors. The course is comprised of two significant components. One component is devoted to the four tenants of the Miami Plan. The other component comprised of a mandatory practicum experience; i.e., an internship. In order to fulfill the internship component students must complete a minimum of 120-hours of service to their site. You must have senior-status (i.e., 96+ credit hours) prior or concurrent to your enrollment in this course.
SLM 340: Internship (0-20 credits hours)
Internships are a directed practical experience for the student under the guidance of on-site and KNH faculty supervisors.
Learning Outcomes
With a major in sport leadership and management, students will be able to:
- Make use of a range of leadership frameworks and theories to analyze, understand, and implement effective leadership (including advocacy) in sport and physical activity settings.
- Display working knowledge of how persistent belief systems and inequitable social relations shape experiences and opportunities in sport and physical activity.
- Develop a critical understanding of management approaches and essentials within sport organizations and have the ability to analyze governance structures and functions within local, regional, national, and international sport bodies.
- Demonstrate a comprehensive integration and application of sport leadership knowledge and skills.
Minors
Coaching Minor
The minor in coaching allows students to obtain the knowledge and skills needed to coach at the youth, interscholastic, intercollegiate, and professional levels of sport. The minor is open to all university students.
Dance Minor
The Dance minor offers students the opportunity to pursue the specialized skills necessary for dance performance. Students will complete courses in dance technique, performance, dance history, and production/design and integrate learning through involvement with dance concerts and/or musical theatre productions.
This minor is an interdisciplinary offering between the Departments of Theatre and Sport Leadership and Management with course offerings from the two departments. Students interested in the dance minor should meet with Ashley Goos, director of the dance minor.
Sport Analytics Minor
The sport analytics minor provides students with an understanding of how sport organizations analyze, interpret, and communicate data efficiently and effectively in sport. Students will learn the analytical and technical skills needed for database programming, regression modeling, and data visualization as it applies to the economics, marketing, administration, communication, and performance of sport.
Sport Management Minor
This minor focuses on the knowledge and skills needed for administrative or managerial positions in sport at various levels (from youth to elite sport) and in various contexts (from community recreational to professional sport).
The minor is open to all university students. Students may not major in Sport Leadership and Management, with both a concentration in sport management and a minor in sport management.
Combined Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Sport Leadership and Management
The combined Bachelor's - Master's degree program allows highly qualified students to simultaneously pursue a Bachelor's and Master's degree. Students considering the combined option should seek advising from the graduate director of their program of interest as soon as possible since this program requires planning and preparation.
This combined program prepares students to succeed in leadership positions in the sport industry (recreational to professional, youth to adult) by providing them with knowledge and skills to critically analyze and innovatively engage in the business and culture of sport.
Academic Opportunities
Physical Activity Life Skills Courses
We offer a variety of sport, exercise, and lifetime/adventure activity courses that are open to students of all majors. These two credit hour courses provide students the opportunity to learn about lifetime/adventure activities, improve physical conditioning levels, relieve stress while having fun, and increase social engagement.
NEW course open to all students: SLM 195 Stress Management and Performance Psychology in Sport. (2)
The Miami Plan
The Miami Plan for Liberal Education is a University requirement for graduation. The coursework emphasizes four basic goals: civic-mindedness and social engagement, collaboration and innovation, communication and expression, and critical and integrative thinking.
Career Placement
The sport industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the United States. Sport provides many increasingly diverse career opportunities, and Miami's job placement rate is strong, thanks in part to the well-rounded education and practical experience students receive in multiple internship opportunities and a required capstone practicum experience. An annual Sport Career Exploration and Networking Expo is held on campus each fall to assist SLAM students internships and employment.
| Careers | Concentration |
|---|---|
| Coaching in interscholastic, collegiate, or professional sport; Coaching with national governing bodies of Olympic sport; Coaching education specialists in national or state organizations/associations | SPORT COACHING |
| Sport administrators; high school or college athletic directors; Marketing directors for collegiate or professional sport; Fund raising or ticket sales administrators; Sport facility managers, Sales representative for sporting goods companies; Corporate or organizational administrators of sport events | SPORT MANAGEMENT |
| Media experts for college, professional, or Olympic sport programs; Sport media relations; Digital video and audio/web design experts for sport programs; Public relations and promotion specialists for sport organizations. Print journalist; Sport information directors in intercollegiate sport programs; Public/community relations with professional sport programs; Broadcast journalists in radio or television | SPORT COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA |
Sport Analytics Concentration
Offered within the B.A. in Data Analytics
Students also have the ability to major is Data Analytics through the College of Arts and Science with a concentration in Sport Analytics. Sport analytics is a relatively new and rapidly evolving set of tools in the area of sport management. It includes advanced statistics, information systems, data management, data visualization, behavioral economics, human movement tracking, and several other fields. Analytic models and information systems are being used in the areas of coaching, leadership, player evaluation, player development, scouting, and other areas of sport organizations. The future of sport leadership and management involves sport analytics.
Student Learning Objective:
Identify and apply appropriate data analytics tools to solve problems in sporting contexts (e.g., management, coaching, player performance, and sport operations).
- SLM 275 - Introduction to Sport Analytics (3)
- SLM 273 - Sport Communication and Media (3)
- SLM 313 - Sport Economics (3)
- SLM 416 - Sport Marketing (3)
- SLM 472 - Sport Administration (3)
- SLM 418 - Applied Sport Analytics (3)
Contact Us
Department of Sport Leadership and Management
118 Laws Hall
Oxford, OH 45056
