ECU’s sports management degree earns national accreditation

(Sept. 20, 2004)   —   East Carolina University can lay claim to offering the state’s first nationally accredited master’s program in sport management.

Available through ECU’s Exercise and Sport Science Department, the degree concentration offers students an academic program designed to meet standards set by sport management faculty and national review boards, said Stacey Altman, an exercise science professor and director of ECU’s sport management program.

“The vision of the faculty involved in our program has been to deliver technical and theoretical knowledge while emphasizing the unique nature of sport and the organizations that provide it,” Altman said.

ECU’s program is one of only 26 master’s programs in the nation to earn accreditation from the Sport Management Program Review Council. The review council is formed jointly through the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and the North American Society for Sport Management.

“The accreditation process ensures that our program has met the review council’s high standards for course offerings, faculty expertise, and direct involvement with the sport management industry,” Altman said. “Sports are pervasive in our society and I have no doubt that study of sport and its successful and ethical management is critical to a better quality of life.”

The program’s 33 enrolled students take courses that address the legal, financial, ethical, and socio-cultural aspects of sport, as well as studying organizational behavior and marketing in sport organization, Altman said. In addition to their academic responsibilities, sport management degree candidates must also work or participate in an internship outside the classroom with an athletic team. Often, many of them team up close to home with coaches and managers in ECU’s Athletics Department.

Altman said the program would not undergo re-accreditation until 2011.