Sport analytics program gives students real-world experience while helping Syracuse Athletics optimize sales and engage fans.
Sport Management News
Falk College introduces new online Certificate of Advanced Study in sport analytics
Students gain advanced data skills for in-demand careers with sports teams, leagues, and companies connected to sports
Falk College will introduce an online Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in sport analytics to its academic degree offerings in Spring 2022. Sport analytics focuses on data science applications to sports teams and businesses. The new 12-credit CAS program explores different types of statistics used for analysis of player and team performance, and business performance across different sports and leagues. Upon graduation, students are proficient in visualizing and analyzing sport data and well-prepared prepared to meet increasing demand for analytics professionals in the growing, international world of sports.
“Popularized by the book and film Moneyball, sport analytics uses statistics, mathematical modeling, coding, and insights into both the on-field and business aspects of sport to communicate important insights to decision-makers such as coaches and general managers,” says Rodney Paul, professor in the Department of Sport Management and director of its sport analytics program. “Our program combines aspects of mathematics, computer coding, and business theory coupled with research and insights into how analytics are used in various aspects of sport to prepare students for positions in this growing field.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects above-average employment growth in several of the top occupations related to sports analytics. As the analytics revolution continues to expand across sports, both domestic and around the world, so do career opportunities for professionals who can code, understand, and model complex mathematical relationships, and communicate these findings effectively.
Falk College’s CAS in sport analytics prepares students for successful sport analytics careers with sports teams and leagues as well as businesses connected to sports, such as media networks, advertisers, and sponsors, both nationally and internationally. Coursework includes specific focus areas in sport analytics statistics and methods, including visualization tools, programming in R and Python, linear regression and econometric techniques, and machine learning.
The certificate offers a pathway to sport analytics careers for new college graduates and current professionals in related fields such as sport management, economics, statistics, and computer science. The asynchronous online program allows students anywhere in the world to take advantage of a Syracuse University education, and a powerful Syracuse alumni network in the sport industry.
“Sport analytics is a rapidly expanding professional field, with growing career opportunities for well-trained professionals,” says Diane Lyden Murphy, dean of Falk College. “Falk College’s new CAS in sport analytics allows students and professionals in various related fields to build upon their existing education and work experience to build a successful sport analytics career. Equipped with a specialized academic credential from Syracuse University, and an influential network of Syracuse alumni in sport, graduates of the sport analytics CAS program can seize new professional opportunities and advance their careers.”
The CAS in sport analytics is housed within the Department of Sport Management, which launched one of the nation’s first bachelor’s degrees in sport analytics in 2017. Syracuse sport analytics students have received high honors at analytics competitions around the country such as the NBA Hackathon and NFL Big Data Bowl, as well as leading global academic research conferences at the Academy of Economics and Finance and MIT/Sloan, in addition to earning peer-reviewed academic publications of their original research in the Journal of Economics and Finance, Academy of Economics and Finance Journal, Athletic Business Journal and others.
The program is now accepting student admissions applications. For more information about the new CAS in sport analytics, and other degree programs in Falk College, please visit the Falk College website.
Learn more about CAS in Sport Analytics
Coming Back Together 2021
Falk College Alumni and students are honored during this year’s Coming Back together celebration!
Starting in 1983, Coming Back Together (CBT) was the first reunion of its kind. Every three years, Black and Latino/a alumni come back to campus to celebrate their accomplishments, meet current students, and remain connected with the University.
The theme of this year’s reunion is “Celebrating 151 Years of Black and Latino/a Excellence at SU.” Over the four-day weekend, workshops, receptions, social events and cultural activities will be offered to attendees. Highlights include the CBT Celebrity Classic basketball game, a special concert featuring 90s R&B trio SWV, tailgate on the Quad and football game vs. Rutgers University, fundraising gala and awards ceremony, and a Sunday worship service featuring Grammy-winning gospel artist BeBe Winans.
Coming Back Together Awards
Syracuse University’s Office of Multicultural Advancement will be recognizing accomplished alumni during Coming Back Together (CBT) this September. One of them is Falk College Sport Management major Jasmine Jordan-Christmas ’14. She will be receiving a Young Alumni Award for Excellence in Fashion.
She will be honored for her extraordinary professional achievements by Chancellor Kent Syverud at an awards ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 11, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Goldstein Auditorium in the Schine Student Center.
Presented to African American and Latino/a alumni during CBT, the awards serve to recognize the significant civic or career achievements by the selected winners. Since 1983, the ceremony has been a signature event presented at the CBT reunion.
“The 2021 awardees represent some of the University’s best, brightest and most engaged alumni,” says Rachel Vassel, associate vice president in the Office of Multicultural Advancement. “While achieving tremendous professional success across diverse fields, these individuals are dedicated to Syracuse University and we are forever grateful to them for the many ways they support our work.”
Jordan-Christmas is a sports marketing professional for Nike’s Jordan brand, a fashion influencer and 2014 graduate of the Falk College sport management program. The daughter of basketball legend Michael Jordan, Jordan-Christmas is forging her own legacy in the sports industry and has worked closely with some of the most notable brands in sports over her 10-year career.
In her current role as field representative for sports marketing, basketball and women’s, with Nike, Jordan-Christmas manages athletes who represent the Jordan brand. She recently led an initiative to shape the future of basketball culture for women and young girls by expanding the brand’s WNBA roster to eleven active players, the largest in the brand’s history. Previously, she worked as operations coordinator for the Charlotte Hornets.
Jordan-Christmas is married to former Syracuse basketball player Rakeem Christmas and the mother of a toddler son, Rakeem “Keem” Jr. She is an Our Time Has Come scholarship donor and supports her family’s philanthropic efforts through the Rakeem Christmas Foundation and the Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic in Charlotte, North Carolina. She recently provided a special video message of encouragement for the Class of 2020’s virtual commencement.
Orange Circle Awards
Alumni and student groups will also be honored through the Orange Circle Awards as part of Coming Back Together 2021 celebration. Recipients are altruistic members of the SU community who have done extraordinary things in the service of others. From generous financial support to selfless volunteerism, the Orange Circle Awards recognize students, faculty, staff and alumni who possess a deep responsibility for acts that better society.
This year the Food Busters student group will be honored for their work in the Syracuse community. Food Busters was started by students within the nutrition program at Falk College.
Honors will be given during the Orange Circle Awards ceremony and reception, held from 2-4 p.m. on Sept. 9 as part of Syracuse University’s Coming Back Together celebration. The awards ceremony will occur in the Grand Hall of the Daniel & Gayle D’Aniello Building, home to the National Veterans Resource Center.
Food Busters strives to improve literacy skills and public health awareness of fellow students in the Syracuse community. The organization was created in 2014 by ShawFood Busters group photo Center nutrition volunteer coordinators Jennifer La ’14 and Katelyn Castro ’15 and Engagement Fellow Victoria Seager G’15. It sends Syracuse University volunteers from the Shaw Center into local schools to teach students to implement lesson plans designed around content they are learning in their school or college.
This year, Food Busters worked with Henninger High School students in hands-on, STEM-focused lessons designed to explore the relationship between food, nutrition, health and media, while also increasing these students’ comprehension in the fields of literacy, mathematics and science. Along with nutrition students from Falk College, the Henninger High School students learned to perform their own food science experiments based on the lesson plans.
Falk College CBT Event
The food studies program is also hosting Leah Penniman during this year’s Coming Back Together celebration. The event, “Soup JOUMOU and a lecture TOO!,” will feature a luncheon with Soup Joumou – the Haitian liberation meal as well as a lecture by Leah.
Leah is a Black Kreyol farmer, author, mother, and food justice activist who has been tending the soil and organizing for an anti-racist food system for 25 years. She currently serves as founding co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, a Black & Brown led project that works toward food and land justice. Her book is Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land.
The event will be moderated by Rick Welsh, Chair of the department of Nutrition and Food Studies with panelists Marcelle Haddix, courtesy appointed professor of Food Studies, and Estelí Jiménez-Soto, assistant professor of Food Studies.
Marcelle Haddix will also be receiving an Orange Circle Award this year for her work in the Syracuse community. Haddix chairs the School of Education’s Reading and Language Arts department, and is the inaugural co-director of the Lender Center for Social Justice. Her scholarly pursuits focus on the experiences of students of color in literacy and English teaching and teacher education, as well as the importance of centering Blackness in educational practices and spaces.
For a full list of CBT events and registration information, visit the Coming Back Together 2021 website.
More Than a Game
Kyle Liotta ’20 is interested in two things: math and sports—not always in that order. So when he heard Syracuse University’s Falk College was launching a sport analytics program, he quickly joined the starting lineup. “One of the benefits of sport analytics is that students get real-world experience,” says Liotta, who also majored in economics. “The faculty has their eyes and ears on what’s happening outside of the classroom.”
Today, Liotta is a data scientist at Dan Klores Communications, a New York City-based PR firm whose clients include various sports teams. He credits his undergraduate program—the first of its kind in the nation to offer a bachelor’s degree within a sport management department—for imparting the value of data-driven decision-making. “I had a three-month internship with the Milwaukee Brewers that was transformative,” says Liotta. “The University prepared me to take on work-specific tasks, in addition to attending staff meetings and networking with industry executives. It was a dream come true.”
Liotta is part of a growing cadre of young mathematicians who analyze sports data for a living. Such number-crunching has traditionally been used by managers and coaches to measure player performance. But in the past decade, sport analytics has changed how professional and collegiate programs compete on and off the field.
Tech is integral to the sport analytics experience, explains program director Rodney Paul. “Mathematical science is used to maintain a competitive edge, thus attracting a wide range of students.”
Gone are the days when success was contingent on player ability, says Professor Rodney Paul, who directs the program. “Sport management is no longer a game of chance. Mathematical science is now used to maintain a competitive edge, thus attracting a wide range of students.”
Bailie Brown ’21, the program’s first female graduate, parlayed her twin interests in analytics and data visualization into a baseball strategy apprenticeship with the Houston Astros. “Seeing there is a community of really amazing women in this industry, no matter how small, is proof I can succeed,” she says.
Teaming Up for Success
Paul brings a liberal arts sensibility to sport analytics, gathering courses from Falk College, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. “We even require students to take a foreign language,” he says, noting the preponderance of Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese and Russian in the baseball, soccer and hockey communities. “Our program takes a forward-looking approach to sport, anticipating where it might expand next.”
Tech is integral to the experience, as evidenced by Falk’s Milton Conrad Technology Lab, which doubles as a student classroom and computer lab. Through a special arrangement with Daktronics—a global provider of video scoreboards, LED displays and timing systems—students get live, game-day production experience. “We also introduce them to wearable devices and video tracking, which provide in-depth data on player position, performance and wellness,” explains Paul, a Clemson-trained economist.
The lab includes a digital ticketing suite, where students learn how tickets are managed and purchased. “Ticketing is a key starting point for the fan-team relationship,” says Paul, adding that while paper tickets can vanish without a trace, e-tickets leave a digital trail. “It allows us to follow fan behavior, like venue entry and spending habits.” For this reason, the University’s stadium transitioned to mobile ticketing last summer.
Ticketing also is the impetus behind a bold, new partnership between sport analytics and Syracuse Athletics. Since January, more than 25 of Paul’s students have been combing through historical sales data from Syracuse football, men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s lacrosse games. Most of the work involves game-by-game and year-by-year comparisons of actual tickets scanned—information that can optimize ticket sales and the overall fan experience.
Zak Koeppel ’21 (left) and Drew DiSanto ’21—a recent graduate of and a senior in the sport analytics program, respectively—have contributed to a new partnership with Syracuse Athletics.
Andrew T. Goodrich, deputy athletics director and chief marketing officer, considers the partnership remarkable. “There are very few Division 1 programs willing to provide students with real-live [ticketing] data for research purposes,” he says. “It’s a win-win for us and Falk College.”
The partnership also will reveal where the University stacks up against its peers in the Power Five conferences. “I want to know where we fall in terms of ticket pricing and then determine a way to maximize sales,” says Drew DiSanto ’21, who is minoring in finance and interning as a data analyst for the Buffalo Bills. He agrees with Zak Koeppel ’21 that students bring a unique perspective to sports data. “Our impact on ticketing and pricing strategies is probably bigger than people realize,” says Koeppel, who has interned for the XFL, Bowl Season, and the EDGE10 performance and analytics group. “I want to help create a more strategic, personalized approach to fan engagement.”
Goodrich agrees, calling data the “new oil.” “Professor Paul and his students refine the information we give them, helping us determine how to better support our student-athletes via business operations and fan experiences.”
Drew DiSanto (seated), a data analyst intern for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, is shown here with Zak Koeppel, an incoming master’s student in sports law and business at Arizona State University Law.
Gaining a Homefield Advantage
The seeds of the sport analytics program were sown more than a decade ago, when Paul joined the Falk College faculty. He promptly founded a SABRmetrics club—named for the Society for American Baseball Research—in response to burgeoning interest in the study and analysis of baseball performance. Think Moneyball, the 2011 biopic about the Oakland A’s general manager who turned to analyzing objective statistics (e.g., ERAs, home runs and RBIs) to revive his slumping franchise. “SABRmetrics has revolutionized the entire sport industry. It’s all about equations and formulas,” Paul says. “The data gets pretty granular.”
Paul found this out firsthand in 2014, when he co-published a study about the impact of air density on the speed of pitching and pitch selection. His findings not only caught the attention of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, but also were picked up by ESPN The Magazine. “That’s when I began thinking about how sport data could be rolled into a single undergraduate degree program, which hadn’t been done yet,” he says.
Committed to hands-on training, Paul encourages his students to engage with organizations like SABR, sponsor of the Diamond Dollars Case Competition. Koeppel was a first-year student when he participated in his first such competition, which helps Major League Baseball executives address issues like salary caps, minority hiring and performance-enhancing drugs. “It was the first time I approached a sports problem from an analytical rather than a fan perspective. It allowed me to utilize my technical and problem-solving skills in new ways,” he says.
Tommy Powell G’20, assistant provost for student-athlete academic development, believes data and analytics are the future of sports and business, in general. “Our partnership with sport analytics not only helps sales and operations, but also makes our students more competitive after graduation,” he says. Case in point: DiSanto, who graduates in December, has been accepted into the applied data science master’s degree program in the School of Information Studies.
Cody Barbuto ’19 is a testament to the degree’s versatility. As a student, he became known for co-publishing trade articles and speaking at conferences. At one point, he even traveled to Orlando to address the NCAA’s Ad Hoc Committee on Sports Wagering, then chaired by Chancellor Syverud.
Today, Barbuto is a data analyst for Syracuse-based United Auto Supply, a wholesale distributor of auto and heavy-duty fleet parts. “I help managers and stakeholders make informed decisions,” he says, noting the similarities between the sport and automotive industries. “I love sports, but I also love doing new and different things. I use my sport analytics degree every day to be successful.”
A Syracuse University story by Rob Enslin originally published on August 26, 2021.
SPM Newsletter highlights students, faculty, staff, alumni and more
Several years ago, during the embryonic stages of our sport management program, we embarked upon a strategic planning initiative. We called it “20-20 Vision,” as we planned for what the sport industry would be like in the year 2020. No one predicted a global pandemic would occur and shut down most of the world, proving for the first time in our nation’s history that sports are no longer recession proof. No one envisioned online courses, virtual classrooms, Zoom sessions, webinars, and limited or no social activities. But it happened. And we persevered. In May 2021, Falk College’s Department of Sport Management conferred the largest number of degrees in our department’s history with 121 students graduating from Sport Management, Sport Analytics, and our graduate program in Sport Venue and Event Management. Our 2020-2021 Newsletter highlights these students, as well as our faculty, staff, advisory councils and alumni.
New course tackles race, gender, and diversity in sport
Falk College’s Department of Sport Management has introduced a new course titled “Race, Gender, and Diversity in Sport Organizations.”
The new three-credit “Race, Gender, and Diversity in Sport Organizations” course was taught in the Spring 2021 semester by Sport Management professor Dr. Mary Graham and Sport Management alumnus Chris Robinson’15. Among other topics, the course covered identity, the history and policies of demographic categorization, intersectionality, and diversity management best practices, all with an emphasis on race, ethnicity, and gender in sport settings. The course culminated with students designing and implementing a final outreach, creative, or scholarly project.
Guest speakers included Thomas McMahon, Associate Dean for Diversity, Racial Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Texas at Arlington; Liz Mills, head coach of the Kenyan men’s national basketball team; Dr. Salatha Willis, Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Culture, and Climate at Syracuse University; Dr. Deborah Coolhart, Associate Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at SU; and BJ Johnson, Director of College Scouting and Player Evaluation for the Brooklyn Nets.
Students worked in groups on projects focusing on comparing racial inclusion in NASCAR versus Formula One; harassment of women in sport media; athlete voice and protests; a Public Service Announcement to encourage more women coaches; extending the Rooney Rule to the NBA; and social justice activism by members of the US Women’s National Soccer Team versus activism by players on WNBA teams.
“I enrolled in the class because it had the word sport in its title,” said Sport Analytics major Benjamin Gansenberg ’23. “I left the class having never felt more aware of other humans, and the way that negative words and actions have much larger implications than just hurting somebody’s feelings. I feel comfortable, confident, and quite honestly, expected, to take a role in combatting the negativity that surrounds race, gender, and ethnicity.”
The class will be taught each Spring.
For questions about the class, please contact Dr. Graham via email at megraham@syr.edu.
Falk College welcomes new faculty and staff
Syracuse University’s Falk College is pleased to welcome four new staff members who have joined Falk College in the past academic year: Stephen Bonomo, Director of Information Technology; Deborah Golia, Director of Admissions; Kailyn Jennings, Sport Management Internship Placement Coordinator; Danielle Jones, Social Work Internship Placement Coordinator; Donna Sparkes, Budget Associate, and; Emily Williams, Human Development and Family Science Internship Placement Coordinator.
In addition, Falk College is pleased to announce the appointment of six new faculty members, Lastenia-Francis, Catherine García, Esteli Jimenez, Kevin McNeill, Joey Merrin, and Fei Pei.
Lastenia Francis
Assistant Teaching Professor (Online), Department of Marriage and Family Therapy
Lastenia Francis (she/her/hers) joins the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics as an Assistant Teaching Professor (Online) in fall 2021. She will teach courses on family systems theories and practice.
Francis is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a certified trauma therapist. She has been practicing since 2014 with an attention to helping minority populations. Francis has provided clinical services in an outpatient clinic in the South Bronx working with low-income communities and communities of color, an intensive preventative program, at the Veterans Affairs as a Readjustment Counselor, and built a private practice that focuses on building strong families in communities of color. Francis previously taught at Mercy College in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program and continues to act as a mentor to developing Marriage and Family Therapists as an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Approved Supervisor.
Francis continues to have an insatiable appetite for helping people of color maximize their potential in how they relate to themselves, their spouse, and their family and demonstrates that in her research interest. Dr. Francis was drawn to academia through her passion for training more social justice clinicians to help strengthen families especially those in minority and underserved communities. Her dissertation research focused on the reintegration experiences of Black veterans and their families.
Francis is the Founder of Meaningful E-Motion Private Practice, Assistant Editor of the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) blog, and a member of the AAMFT and the AFTA.
Francis Earned a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Northcentral University in 2021, a M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Mercy College in 2015, and a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Stonybrook University in 2013.
Catherine García
Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Science/Aging Studies Institute
Catherine García (she/her/hers) joins the Department of Human Development and Family Science in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics as an Assistant Professor in fall 2021. At Syracuse University she will teach classes in Midlife Development and Gerontology.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, García was an Assistant Professor of Sociology and core faculty member of the Minority Health Disparities Initiative (MHDI) at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln where she taught quantitative methods and served as a faculty mentor for the MHDI Summer Research Program.
García’s research focuses on Latina/o/x aging and health in the United States and Puerto Rico, applying multidisciplinary approaches to understand how the interaction of biological, environmental, and social factors influence the disease process among older Latina/o/x adults. Her research work has led to 15 peer-reviewed publications and two book chapters, including multiple manuscripts in The Gerontologist and The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences.
Her research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including an R36 Aging Research Dissertation Award to Increase Diversity from 2018-2020 and an R01 Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research from 2021-2023. Her research has led to several awards, including the Emerging Scholars and Professional Organization (ESPO) Interdisciplinary Paper Award, the ESPO Poster Award, and the Minority Issues in Gerontology Poster Award from the Gerontological Society of America.
Currently, she serves as a steering committee member for the Network for Data-Intensive Research on Aging (NDIRA) at the University of Minnesota and is a committee member of the Minority Issues in Gerontology Advisory Panel (MIGAP) of the Gerontological Society of America. In addition, she will serve on the editorial board for the Journal of Health and Social Behavior beginning in January 2022.
She earned a Ph.D. in Gerontology in 2020 from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in Sociology from Florida State University in 2014, and a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Human Complex Systems from the University of California – Los Angeles (with college and departmental honors) in 2010.
Estelí Jimenez-Soto
Assistant Professor, Department of Nutrition and Food Studies
Estelí Jimenez-Soto (she/hers) joins the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics as a tenure-track assistant professor of food studies in fall 2021. At Syracuse University, she will teach classes in Agriculture and the Environment, including Agroecology, and Climate Change and the Food System. She joins the Syracuse Cluster Initiative in Energy and Environment.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Jimenez-Soto was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California Santa Cruz in the Department of Community Studies from 2020-2021, and in the Department of Environmental Studies from 2019-2020, where she taught principles of sustainable agriculture and worked on socioeconomic barriers and opportunities to adopt sustainable practices in strawberry production.
Her research uses interdisciplinary engagements, bridging the fields of agroecology and political ecology to examine environmental problems at the nexus of food, agriculture and the environment in both the U.S. and Latin American contexts. She has published in journals including Ecology and Evolution, Bioscience, and Journal of Peasant Studies and her work has been highlighted in publications such as The Economist.
Her research has been supported by UC-MEXUS, El Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT), the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) and P.E.O International. In 2020 she was a recipient of a Peter Ashton Award by Biotropica, a Gentry Student Award by the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation in 2017, and a Mildred Mathias Award for best dissertation proposal by the UC-MEXUS in 2015.
She is an active member of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), the American Association of Geographers (AAG), the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), New World Agriculture and Ecology Group (NWAEG) and The Alliance for Women in Agroecology (AMA-AWA).
Jimenez-Soto earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and a M.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2018 and 2014 respectively; and an B.S. with honors in Agroecology in 2012 from Universidad Autonoma Chapingo in Mexico. She is originally from San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, México.
Kevin McNeill
Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Sport Management
Kevin McNeill has been a member of the Department of Sport Management since 2019 in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and will serve as assistant teaching professor beginning in the fall 2021. At Syracuse University, McNeill will teach classes in Sport Technology and Technologies in Game Day Operations.
McNeill previously served as an Internship Placement Coordinator in Sport Management and provided advising for undergraduate students in academics and career exploration. He assisted students through the senior Capstone process and taught classes in Professional Development in Sport Management.
Previously, McNeill worked at Le Moyne College as Associate Athletic Director in the Department of Athletics for 12 years as well as served Syracuse University Athletics as the Marketing Coordinator from 2004 to 2007.
While at Le Moyne, McNeill oversaw the marketing and communications for the Division II athletic program. In that role, he led programming in brand development, revenue generation, digital media, video production, corporate sponsorship, and game day management. In addition to serving on the athletic department leadership team, he co-chaired the College’s strategic plan marketing committee, participated in the College’s integrated marketing committee, and instructed in the Madden School of Business.
Serving as the Marketing Coordinator at Syracuse University Athletics, McNeill supported the department’s broad-based marketing initiatives with a focus on game day promotions, marketing campaigns, ticket sales, advertising, and graphic design.
McNeill earned a Master of Science, Sports Administration and Master of Business Administration from Ohio University in 2004 and a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration from Le Moyne College in 2002.
Joey Merrin
Assistant Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Science
Gabriel “Joey” Merrin (he/him/his) joins the Department of Human Development and Family Science in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics in fall 2021. At Syracuse University, Merrin will teach courses in Child and Adolescent Development and Advanced Statistical Methods.
Merrin was most recently an assistant professor in Human Development and Family Sciences at Texas Tech University from 2019-2021 and taught graduate-level statistic courses where he focused on reproducible research, programmatic programming, and transparent designs using open science frameworks and guidelines. Before Texas Tech University, he held two post-doctoral fellowships, one in the Department of Psychology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and the other in the Department of Health Management and Informatics at the University of Central Florida.
Trained as a developmental psychologist and applied methodologist, Merrin’s research seeks to clarify developmental processes through which adolescents’ experiences with their families, peers, teachers, and communities influence development of problem behaviors and experiences with identity-based harassment and victimization throughout adolescence and in the transition to young adulthood. He is particularly interested in the development of these behaviors among various minoritized and oppressed groups. His work focuses on translating and mobilizing knowledge to inform intervention and prevention efforts to improve the school experience for young people by using applied research designs, leveraging practical implications, and intentional school and community engagement.
His research has been supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institute of Health, and most recently, Merrin and his colleagues at Boston University launched a three-year National Institute of Justice funded study to examine bias-based harassment among adolescents to identify risk and protective factors across multiple levels of the social ecology.
Merrin was recently awarded the 2020-2021 New Faculty Award at Texas Tech University and selected into the Society of Prevention Research Early Career Prevention Scientists Training Program. Merrin currently serves on the editorial board for Prevention Science and Psychology of Violence.
Merrin earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 2017, an Ed.M. in Human Resource Development in 2011, and a B.A. in Sociology in 2009, all from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Fei Pei
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Fei Pei (she/her/hers) joins the School of Social Work in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics as a tenure-track assistant professor of social work in fall 2021. At Syracuse University, Fei will teach Social Welfare Policy and Services.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Fei was a Ph.D. candidate at the Ohio State University College of Social Work where she also served as a graduate instructor and research assistant, teaching research methods, lifespan development, and social welfare.
The overarching goal of Fei’s research is to promote healthy development among vulnerable children, including maltreated and immigrant youths by identifying neighborhood disparities. In particular, her research focuses on community health and child development. She published over 20 peer-reviewed papers in rigorous academic journals including Child Abuse & Neglect, Children and Youth Services Review, Family & Community Health, Journal of Community Psychology, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Trauma, Violence & Abuse.
Fei was trained in all aspects of grant-funded and investigator-initiated research projects, ranging from university-funded projects to federal-funded studies (e.g., NIH funded and UNICEF funded projects). Her research has been acknowledged and funded by various institutions and scholarships such as the 2021 Merriss Cornell Distinguished Researcher Award, 2019 Kempe Interdisciplinary Summer Research Institute, 2018 International Peace Scholarship, Seed Funding for 2016 Clinton Global Initiative University, and 2015 New Brunswick Chancellor’s Scholarship.
Fei actively participated in professional and community services. She was a volunteered social worker for the local agency, Asian American Community Services in Columbus, OH and the president of the College of Social Work’s Doctoral Student Organization. She also serves as an ad hoc peer reviewer for multiple academic journals.
Fei earned a Ph.D. in 2021 from The Ohio State University, College of Social Work, a MSW in 2016 from Rutgers University – New Brunswick, and a LL.B. and a B.S. (double degree) in 2014 from Shanghai University and East China Normal University.
Welcome Class of 2025!
Falk College welcomes the Class of 2025, a talented group from 37 states and 33 global countries. The Class of 2025 includes 373 first-year students, 13 transfer students, 163 new graduate students, and 156 new online graduate students. Fall 2021 Syracuse Welcome is scheduled for Aug. 26-29, 2021, with new student move-in beginning Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. The entire welcome week schedule for new students can be found by visiting the Syracuse Welcome website.
Falk College Syracuse Welcome Events:
There are currently no events scheduled, please check back soon.
Illuminating 2021 Olympians
The Tokyo Olympics brings together an untold number of stories of athletes and their struggles, determination and victories. Brian Meyer ’11 is helping bring those stories to light to their fans and to the world.
“In the years leading up to the Games, we help to build the strategic marketing plan for the program, conduct research and make recommendations of athletes to partner with, negotiate contracts and then ultimately manage the relationships with the athletes and their agents,” Meyer says.
In the lead up to the Games and throughout the Olympics, all the work comes together as athletes are front and center to the world.
“We manage all of the activations and ways in which Visa presents their athletes; this could include managing creative approvals, appearances (in-person or virtual) and social media posts,” he says.
For the Tokyo Olympics, Team Visa includes 102 athletes from around the world, representing 54 countries and 28 sports. The team includes Simone Biles of the U.S., gymnastics; Megan Rapinoe of the U.S., soccer; Katie Ledecky of the U.S., swimming; Oksana Masters of the U.S., para cycling; Gabriel Medina of Brazil, surfing; Mariana Pajon of Colombia, BMX racing; Kanoa Igarashi of Japan, surfing; PV Sindhu of India, badminton; and Sky Brown of Great Britain, skateboarding.
Meyer, who graduated with a sport management degree from Falk College, is in Tokyo for the Games. “Most of the Visa team is based in central Tokyo, in the area known as Marunouchi, near Tokyo Station, which is close to the Visa office,” says Meyer, who took part in the Falk College’s inaugural Olympic Odyssey class and trip, which explores the history of the games and includes a trip to visit Olympic cities.
What’s the best part of working with the Olympians? “Getting to know and develop relationships with athletes from all different countries, sports, backgrounds and cultures, and having the opportunity to hear and help tell their stories,” Meyer says.
Revisiting a city he came to know after the PyeongChang Olympics will also be a highlight.
“I’m excited to get back to Tokyo to experience the city and culture there,” Meyer says. “I went there for a few days after the PyeongChang Games in 2018 and have been looking forward to returning ever since.”
A Syracuse University News story by Kathleen Haley originally published on Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
Olympics and Sports Participation
Falk Researcher Discusses Impact of Olympics on Legacy of Sports Participation.
The Tokyo Olympics will have a different vibe from other games. No fans in the stands will make for quiet venues. And what impact might that have on drawing young viewers into watching the games and participating in sports in general?
For the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, Jamie Jeeyoon Kim, an assistant professor of sport management at Falk College, researched how young people were drawn into watching the games and more importantly whether they were then motivated to participate in sports—always a primary interest for host countries and those involved in the Olympic movement.
Kim has a deep background in the Olympics beyond her research. Before coming to academia, she used to work for the Korean Olympic Committee, assisting Korea’s successful bid for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and serving as a manager of the Korean national team.
For the 2018 Olympics, the PyeongChang Organizing Committee’s “New Horizons” vision was to expand winter sports in Asia, bolstered by what some in the sports industry described as the youngest and fastest-growing winter sports market in the world with the largest aggregate youth population.
To better understand the impact of the games and develop strategies for drawing in young people, Kim was awarded $18,000 as part of the International Olympic Committee’s advanced Olympic research grant for her project, “Building a Sport Participation Legacy Through the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.”
Through her work, Kim says that “social influence was found as the most influential factor in the Asian younger generations’ decision-making for Olympic consumption.” In Japan, that element might be missing at the upcoming games—as it will be hard to show how people are missing out from an experience when no one is in the stands.
Kim also received a $7,500 Falk College Seed Grant for the project, “Building Korea’s Brand Personality and Equity with the Olympic Brand and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics,” looking at the nation branding effects of hosting the Olympic games.
In this Q&A, Kim answers a few questions about her research on the legacy of sport participation from the Olympics, her longstanding connection with the Olympics and the thrill of the games.
Q: What did your research involve regarding your project on “Building a Sport Participation Legacy Through the 2018 Winter Olympic Games”?
A: As reflected in the vision of “New Horizons,” the primary goal of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics was to boost sport participation and spectatorship among younger generations in the Asian market through the “trickle-down effect” (i.e., watching the Olympics will inspire people to watch and play sport).
Based on “negotiation of motives and constraints,” a project identifying and testing the interaction among and assessing pre-post changes of key internal and external motives and intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural constraints was conducted with late adolescents in Korea and China. The project was funded by the 2017-2018 Advanced Olympic Research Grant from the International Olympic Committee’s Olympics Studies Centre.
Motives and constraints already known to affect general sport participation and spectating (e.g., enjoyment, escape, cost, time constraint) were found to affect Asian younger generations’ decision-making for Olympic consumption. Notably, social influence and curiosity newly emerged as context-specific factors with strong influences.
The scarcity of the event—being held every four years and the rare opportunity to attend—altered how certain factors affected sport participation and spectatorship (e.g., lack of knowledge about a sport is usually a constraint but functioned as a motive in the study).
Additionally, the exposure to the 2018 games brought short-term boosts of Asian younger generations’ intentions for Olympic sport participation and spectating.
Q: What outcomes were there that might be applied to other Olympics, including these upcoming summer games? How do you see the lack of in-person fans at the upcoming Olympics as impacting sport participation?
A: Among the motives and constraints, social influence was found as the most influential factor in the Asian younger generations’ decision-making for Olympic consumption. Social influence—being influenced by friends or family or to follow the trend—is a factor similar to the “fear of missing out” that can be an influential motive as well as a moderator facilitating one’s overcoming of constraints.
For the Tokyo Olympics, it will be difficult to promote “social influence” among the Japanese audience, as banning in-person spectating hinders the building of the perception that “you do not want to miss out when many others are enjoying Olympic sport.” The fact that the majority of Japanese are preferring the postponement or cancellation of the games is another hindrance for forming “social influence.”
Q: What was the most satisfying part of your work serving with the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics Bid Committee and Korean Olympics Committee?
A: I cannot forget the moment when “PyeongChang” was announced as the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics. It was a moment of excitement and fulfillment, but I also felt relieved that the bidding process was finally over. It was one of the very few moments I’ve cried out of joy.
Attending the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics was also a satisfying experience. I was able to attend the event as a researcher. Seeing the Olympic bid plan actually being realized and being able to catch up with former colleagues were great enjoyable experiences.
My experience with the Olympics helped me stay involved with the Olympic movement in a researcher capacity. I have worked in a research consortium developing a bid strategy for the 2032 Seoul Summer Olympics and a legacy education program for the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics. I also am working with the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and its 29 member NOCs on a project about NOC sponsorship. Being able to conduct research that assists practitioners and seeing it making an impact is very rewarding.
Q: What are you most looking forward to with the upcoming Olympics? What is your favorite sport to watch?
A: The IOC allows organizing committees to add certain sports to the Olympic program. For Tokyo, baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing will be added. These sports were strategically selected to appeal to the younger generation and the host country residents.
Personally, I am excited about skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing as they make their debut at the Olympic stage. These sports are dynamic, energetic and fast-paced, and I believe the sports will bring more excitement and attract more of a younger generation to watch the Olympics.
My favorite sport to watch is not in the summer program. It is short-track speed skating in the Winter Olympics. I like the sport as it is one of the most fast-paced sports, very competitive and always nail-biting. As the former team manager of the Korean national team, the fact that Korea has been pretty successful in the sport did affect my preference of the sport.
Second Season of SPM Juice Webinar Series Launches July 14
The Falk College Department of Sport Management’s Emerging Leaders Council (ELC) is proud to present the second season of The Juice.
The Juice webinar series was created in 2020 and is dedicated to supporting, promoting, and encouraging professional development and social interaction among young professionals in the sports industry. Experienced professionals will engage in dialogue, offer guidance in professional development, and answer questions submitted by students. This year’s The Juice: Coming to You Live! webinar series is a chance for young professionals to hear from employers as they reopen their doors and host events – in person! – once again after COVID-19 rocked the world. The two webinars will be held via Zoom in July and August.
The Juice Season II, Part I – July 14, 12pm
A discussion on the current state of the sport and entertainment world from both an employer’s perspective as well as an employee perspective. Hear from leaders in career and professional development roles talk about navigating the hot new job market, staying motivated, what to look for in a company culture, and more. Join us for part one of the series discussing finding your footing during (and after) a global pandemic. Hear from leaders in career and professional development roles talk about navigating the hot new job market, staying motivated, what to look for in a company culture, and more. Moderated by Baltimore Ravens Player Engagement Manager Lori Robinson ’09, this event will focus the current state of the sport and entertainment world from both an employer’s perspective as well as an employee perspective.
Panelists:
Hanna Sanford (SPM ’16) is the Community Engagement Manager with the Seattle Seahawks and previously worked as Program Director at the Austen Everett Foundation. Sanford has experience in intercollegiate athletics, professional sports, and nonprofit work in marketing, communications, community outreach, and compliance.
Ari Moskowitz (SPM ’18) is a Business Development Manager for FanHub (acquired by Genius Sports Group), the largest provider of casual, free to play sports gaming platforms in the world, working with clients that include the NFL, NBA, MLB and more. Prior to this role, he worked for The Drone Racing League, The Legacy Agency, Rubicon Talent, and CSM Sport & Entertainment.
Kayla Smith is a Senior Career Coach in the Career Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Originally from Southern California, Smith attended UC Santa Barbara for both undergrad and graduate school. She spent almost a decade leading student-athlete development programs before making a career pivot to support the journey of students in higher education.
D.J. Shea (SU ’07) is a Lead Client Solutions Manager at LinkedIn working in the Marketing Solutions business and focusing on the Education Vertical. In his role he consults with his clients to ensure they are set up for success as marketers on LinkedIn across MBA degrees, EMBA degrees, master-level degrees, Executive Education Certificates, and Online Certificates.Register for July 14
The Juice Season II, Part 2 – August 11, 12pm
This session will focus on the current state of the sport and entertainment world from the global event space. Moderated by Aramark Sports and Entertainment Director of Growth Ian McFate ’08, join industry professionals as they discuss the new world of sponsorships, hosting events for the first time since the pandemic cancelled them the year before, and managing brands/talent heading into a “new” era of entertainment.
Panelists:
Alyssa Wood (SPM ’15) is the Director of Sponsorship Strategies and Activation at MKTG, where she is responsible for amplifying sports sponsorships for major brands such as AT&T, Avis, Liberty Mutual, DIRECTV, FedEx, Jack in the Box, and IBM. Her passion lies in helping brands utilize fan passion to influence consumer behavior.
Jim Geant (SPM ’13) is the Senior Manager for Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at New York Road Runners, where he manages multi-million-dollar partnerships around the TCS New York City Marathon and the organization’s other road-racing events. Geant works with partners on activations, broadcast integrations and multi-platform marketing as well as with the business development team on sales strategy and contract negotiation.
Hugo Marsans (SPM ’19) is the Partnerships Manager at Culture Group, Southeast Asia’s leading pop-culture marketing agency. Marsans collaborates and builds programs with established and emerging brands at the intersection of music, gaming and entertainment. His previous experiences include stints at Relevent Sports and Endeavor.
Kate Ruben (SPM ’15) is the newly appointed Manager of Sports Partnerships for CLEAR. She spent the past four years with The Montag Group as their Chief of Staff and Director of Brand Development, where she oversaw branding across all verticals: talent speakers, consulting, content development, and media strategy.Register for August 11
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