Program Overview

Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences

Recreation & Sport Management Master’s Programs

A Sport Management concentration and Adaptive Sport and Recreation certificate are offered at the master’s level in the Recreation and Sport Management program. These emphasize the experiential education approach to professional preparation. Students graduating from this program gain practical experience to accompany their academic degrees.

Sport Management Concentration

The Sport Management concentration has been a formally recognized program at UT since 1983. The mission of the program is to prepare dynamic leaders for tomorrow’s sport industry through scholarship, leadership, diversity, and quality academic and practical experience. Sport Management includes any combination of skills related to planning, organizing, leading, and evaluating within the context of an organization or department whose primary product or service is related to sport.

Students are offered the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for a career in sport management. The curriculum provides the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree that combines coursework and professional experience. The program offers considerable flexibility and can be designed to fit each student’s interests.

The program offers both thesis and nonthesis options with both requiring 36 hours for the degree. Three classes are required, with the rest of the curriculum consisting of topic-specific sport management courses and work experiences. Students are also afforded the opportunity to take classes in the sport studies curriculum, which focuses on the study of the sociocultural aspects of sport.

Scholarly Inquiry Option

• Consists of 36 hours of coursework and a written comprehensive examination.
• The scholarly inquiry is an in-depth, scholarly work that relates to the student’s area of emphasis and builds upon the student’s previous coursework and professional experience.
• The scholarly inquiry requires a written report in a style appropriate to the student’s experience.

Thesis Option

• The master’s thesis should be considered a contribution to the field of knowledge in the concentration discipline. Six semester hours of credit may be earned in preparation of the thesis.
• The thesis should represent original research limited in scope so there will be sufficient time to complete it. The thesis experience culminates in a formal presentation to the thesis committee with attendance open to the public.
• Those who plan to continue their education at the PhD level and pursue careers as faculty in higher education tend to choose the thesis option, which consists of 30 hours of coursework and a 6-hour thesis.

Admission Criteria

Decisions are made on a number of criteria:

• An analytical writing score that is competitive with other applicants, as well as verbal and quantitative scores that are competitive with other applicants.
• Candidates must have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or above to be considered (or at least in the senior year).
• The applicant’s writing ability and answers to supplemental application questions (areas of interest, for one) in determining who might be a good fit for our program.
• Ratings forms/letters of recommendation are also considered. At least two of your references should be able to discuss your performance in an academic setting.
• Files will not be considered until complete.

Adaptive Sport and Recreation Certificate

The Graduate Certificate will prepare students with specialized knowledge and skills to design, implement, and evaluate programs and services in adaptive sport and recreation settings. Students will learn about classifications of disabilities, accessibility guidelines, legal aspects, trends in organizations, and foundational concepts of adaptive sport and recreation.

The core curriculum of the certificate is composed of two required courses and two electives. Required courses:

• RSM 515: Philosophical and Conceptual Foundations of Recreation
• RSM 520: Introduction to Adaptive Sport and Recreation

The two remaining electives can be tailored to student interests. Examples may include:

• RSM 450: Legal Aspects of Sport
• RSM 511: Human Resource Management in Sport Organizations
• RSM 514: Organizational Behavior in Sport Contexts
• RSM 535: Ethics in Sport Management

To declare this certificate, students must:

• Be a Sport Management graduate student
• Enroll before earning 6 graduate credit hours
• Maintain a 3.00 GPA

Application Process

• Unofficial academic transcripts from every undergraduate institution attended are required.
• GRE scores are optional for the sport management concentration.
• Supplemental application questions are department-specific and will be reviewed carefully by the admissions committees.
• A current resume is required as part of the application process.
• Three ratings forms may be submitted with or without letters of recommendation.
• International student requirements include taking and passing the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Costs and Funding

The current tuition and fees can be viewed on the university’s website. Some graduate assistantships are offered by academic departments and administrative offices at the university. An assistantship is a financial reward to a graduate student for part-time work in teaching, administration, or research while pursuing an advanced degree. Appointments are normally on a one-fourth to one-half time basis, usually requiring ten to twenty hours of service per week. The annual stipend is payable in either nine or twelve monthly installments. In addition to the stipend, graduate teaching assistants (GTA), graduate teaching associates (GTAssoc), graduate assistants (GA), and graduate research assistants (GRA) with appointments on a one-fourth time basis or higher, are entitled to a waiver of maintenance fees and tuition for the period of appointment in accordance with university policy. These appointments also include a benefit of health insurance for the student.

A very limited number of graduate teaching assistantships are available from our department in the Physical Education Activity Program (PEAP), assisting with research and/or teaching undergraduate lab sections. The application for these positions is included in the online graduate school application. Faculty members will select students for these positions, typically between April and June, for the upcoming academic year. Very few master’s students are funded through the department. However, there are many sources of funding and assistantships elsewhere on campus. We highly recommend that prospective students start early looking for funding sources.