Sport Management News
NASCAR Intern Helps Promote Fan Experience, Leads to More Opportunity
By Kathleen Haley with SU News.
Peri Karslioglu ’16 was looking for a senior capstone project when she came across a listing for the NASCAR Diversity Internship Program. She never imagined where it would eventually take her.
Karslioglu, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, was one of 26 students selected nationwide to participate in the summer program and quickly learned all about America’s favorite spectator sport. The opportunity also led more recently to a permanent position with the organization as a marketing coordinator.
“I love how quickly I was immersed into the motorsports industry,” Karslioglu says. “The internship showed me all different parts of the motorsports industry from the engineering of the cars to the NASCAR Production Studios to the ISC Call Center and the Speediatrics Unit at Halifax Health Medical Center.”
As she initially searched for internships last spring, Karslioglu saw the listing for NASCAR and spotted the posting specifically for the NASCAR Foundation, which offered both marketing and event opportunities.
“I wasn’t sure which area I wanted to focus; therefore I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try both,” says Karslioglu, who graduated in August with degrees in sport management from the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and communication and rhetorical studies from the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
She applied, got an interview and heard back from the organization two days later.
“I had my roommate read the email to make sure it was real. I was very excited when I read the good news,” Karslioglu says.
Karslioglu began the 10-week paid internship in May at the NASCAR Headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. Assigned to the NASCAR Foundation, Karslioglu worked with the marketing team to create content and graphics for social media posts on the foundation’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
The program exposes college students to employment opportunities in departments within the sanctioning body or with organizations that NASCAR partners with to enhance the fan experience. Interns get a real look at the business behind the scenes and gain insights into possible careers.
Karslioglu also assisted with the development team on fundraising initiatives, such as the placement of NASCAR pins and bands in Daytona Beach restaurants in exchange for donations.
“I was also in charge of planning and executing a theme night at the Daytona Tortugas, a minor league baseball team, to generate awareness and fundraise for the NASCAR Foundation,” Karslioglu says.
Along with the foundation activities, Karslioglu made it to the track and some of the sport’s most exciting events.
She attended the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte and the Coke Zero 400 in Daytona Beach, where she met NASCAR personalities in the garage, observed the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars go through inspection and watched the race right from pit road.
“My favorite part was meeting NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski in Victory Lane at the end of the Coke Zero 400,” Karslioglu says. “The opportunity to celebrate with Team Penske was an unforgettable experience.”
Karslioglu enjoyed the opportunity and hoped it would lead to more experiences in the sport—and it did. She was offered, and accepted, a full-time position working with the NASCAR Foundation as a marketing coordinator in Daytona Beach, Florida.
“This internship introduced me to the world of motorsports,” she says.
Falk hosts November 4 Graduate Program Information Session
When students think graduate school, they think curriculum, campus, community, but most of all, what the degree will mean for their lives. It’s not until after completing their degree that Falk College graduate students realize the profound difference it made not just for themselves, but for the lives of those around them as they discover new and exciting opportunities to have a positive impact. That’s what a graduate degree from Falk College means: it means our graduates can do more—more for the community, for society, and for the world. And they do!
Join prospective Falk College graduate students interested in child and family studies, food studies, public health, marriage and family therapy, nutrition science, social work and sport management at Falk’s Graduate Program Information Session on Friday, November 4, 2016 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in Grant Auditorium in White Hall, part of the Falk College Complex.
The presentation will provide detailed information on Falk College graduate programs in:
- Child and Family Studies, MA, MS, PhD
- Marriage and Family Therapy, MA, PhD
- Addiction Studies, MA
- Food Studies, MS
- Global Health, MS
- Nutrition Science, MA, MS
- Public Health, MS
- Social Work, MSW
- Sport Venue and Event Management, MS
- Dual Degree Social Work and Marriage and Family Therapy, MA/MSW
Information and advising will be available regarding Falk’s Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) programs including child therapy, trauma-informed practice, addiction studies, food studies, global health, and intercollegiate athletic advising and support.
Your chance to have an impact: What a graduate degree means at Falk College
When students think graduate school, they think curriculum, campus, community, but most of all, what the degree will mean for their lives. It’s not until after completing their degree that Falk College graduate students realize the profound difference it made not just for themselves, but for the lives of those around them as they discover new and exciting opportunities to have a positive impact. That’s what a graduate degree from Falk College means: it means our graduates can do more—more for the community, for society, and for the world. And they do!
Join prospective Falk College graduate students interested in child and family studies, food studies, public health, marriage and family therapy, nutrition science, social work and sport management at Falk’s Graduate Program Information Session on Friday, November 4, 2016 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in Grant Auditorium in White Hall, part of the Falk College Complex.
The presentation will provide detailed information on Falk College graduate programs in:
- Child and Family Studies M.A., M.S., Ph.D.
- Marriage and Family Therapy M.A., Ph.D.
- Addiction Studies M.A.
- Food Studies M.S.
- Global Health M.S.
- Nutrition Science M.A., M.S.
- Public Health M.S.
- Social Work M.S.W.
- Sport Venue and Event Management M.S.
- Dual Degree Social Work and Marriage and Family Therapy M.A./M.S.W.
Information and advising will be available regarding Falk’s Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) programs including child therapy, trauma-informed practice, addiction studies, food studies, global health, and intercollegiate athletic advising and support.
Sport Management Club honored at The Salvation Army’s 2016 Civic Celebration
The Sport Management Club at Syracuse University was honored with the Community Team Spirit Award at The Salvation Army’s 45th Annual Civic Celebration held September 14 at the Oncenter. Kevin Reese, ’17, co-chair of the Club’s Charity Sports Auction, accepted the award on behalf of the Club in the company of more than 800 attendees, including guest speaker, actor Richard Gere.
This prestigious award recognizes the efforts of the Sport Management Club, a student-run organization in Falk College’s Sport Management Department at Syracuse University whose 11th Annual Charity Sports Auction raised $40,470 for The Salvation Army, Syracuse. A silent auction was held December 2, 2015 during a Syracuse University men’s basketball game, where auction supporters bid on hundreds of items, from sports collectables to major sporting events tickets. The club partnered with Steiner Sports Memorabilia to host an online auction, as well.
“It is truly an honor to see the Sport Management Club at Syracuse University receive the Community Team Spirit Award from The Salvation Army this year,” said Falk College Dean Diane Lyden Murphy. “Our students, and the faculty and staff working with them, dedicate a great deal of time and energy to present the Annual Charity Sports Auction, which has benefitted countless charitable organizations in Central New York since its inception in 2005. The fundraiser demonstrates how students embrace social responsibility and their tireless commitment to serve others and support wellness for individuals, families, and communities. We extend our congratulations and deepest gratitude to all who have invested in this success.”
“The Sport Management Club at Syracuse University is privileged to receive The Salvation Army’s distinguished Community Team Spirit Award as it embodies our annual year-long mission to together embrace the community that our students call ‘home’ for four years,” said Kate Veley, Sport Management Club co-advisor and advisor to the Charity Sports Auction. “We were grateful for the opportunity to support such an integral part of the Syracuse area and thankful to all those who donated or bid on the over 550 items that ensured our success. Our students worked tirelessly at ‘Doing the Most Good’ on behalf of The Salvation Army and we couldn’t be prouder of their accomplishments.”
“The Salvation Army was delighted to be the charity of choice for the Sport Management Club at Syracuse University’s Charity Sports Auction in December,” said Major Karla Clark, CEO Onondaga County of The Salvation Army. “Without the support of local organizations, we wouldn’t be able to provide the quality of services we offer. It’s wonderful to have future leaders focused on the betterment and welfare of our community,” said Clark.
The Salvation Army’s Annual Civic Celebration is one of Syracuse’s most enduring community events, honoring selected community members for their civic and charitable efforts, updating supporters on the organization’s work, and featuring a nationally known speaker. In 2008 in honor of its 50th anniversary for excellence in education and contributions to the Syracuse community, Falk College’s School of Social Work received the Salvation Army’s Community Team Spirit Award.
Since its founding in 2005, the Sport Management Club has raised over $312,000 for local charities. Previous beneficiaries of the charity auction have included the Boys & Girls Clubs, American Diabetes Association, Golisano Children’s Hospital at Upstate, the Ronald McDonald House Charities of CNY, the Upstate Cancer Center, Special Olympics New York, Food Bank of CNY, and Make-A-Wish of Central New York.
SPM students present research at Rochester Institute of Technology Hockey Analytics Conference
Sport Management seniors Joey Weinberg ’17 and Colby Conetta ’17 participated in the Rochester Institute of Technology Hockey Analytics Conference on September 10, 2016.
At the conference, hockey analytics experts made presentations about their research and findings. Information presented included video analysis, statistics, and data visualization techniques. A coaches panel included two Division I men’s ice hockey coaches and three Division III coaches, who talked about their uses of analytics in coaching and player evaluation.
Weinberg and Conetta’s research was titled “Estimating the Impact of Ice Conditions on Scoring, Shots, and Shot Attempts in the NHL.” The students, who are members of Sport Management’s Sabermetrics Club, worked on the research project under the guidance of Sport Management professor Dr. Rodney Paul.
Falk College attends graduate school fairs across New York, U.S. this fall
Falk College will attend many graduate school fairs this fall to connect with prospective graduate students in person and discuss interests and opportunities. This season’s travel schedule will take Falk College graduate admissions staff to many regional events in New York State and to major cities across the United States, such as Philadelphia, Boston, San Diego, and Washington D.C.
Falk College highlights graduate programs at November 4 information session
Syracuse University faculty, staff and current students will welcome potential graduate students interested in Falk College graduate studies in child and family studies, food studies, public health, marriage and family therapy, nutrition science, social work and sport management during its Graduate Program Information Session on Friday, November 4, 2016 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in Grant Auditorium in White Hall, part of the Falk College Complex.
The presentation will provide detailed information on Falk College graduate programs in:
In addition, information and advising will be available regarding Falk’s Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) programs including child therapy, trauma-informed practice, addiction studies, food studies and global health.
There will be time for a question-and-answer session, as well as a time to meet with faculty, staff and current students. Light refreshments will be served.
Sport Management Grad student charity golf tournament raises $15,000
Event purposefully connects event management coursework, experiential learning, social responsibility
Falk College’s Sport Venue and Event Management graduate program hosted a charity golf tournament to benefit Vera House on May 9 at Timber Banks Golf Club in Baldwinsville, NY. This summer, the students presented a $15,000 check to Vera House in support of its comprehensive domestic and sexual violence programs. Students exceeded their fundraising goal for the event, which was to raise $5,000—while raising awareness—for Vera House.
The tournament included more than 120 golfers, lunch, a dinner reception, silent auction, guest speakers, and raffle prizes. The execution of the tournament was part of the sport venue and event management curriculum that requires students to organize an event to gain a direct, hands-on learning experience working in all facets of the sports industry. Student efforts also included selecting the community partner, course operations, marketing, hospitality, fundraising, and sponsorships under the leadership of associate professor of sport management, Gina Pauline.
This event deliberately connects event management courses, including experiential learning opportunities, with social responsibility, which is a hallmark of all academic programs across Falk College. “The students have gained so much experience in all facets of event planning while understanding the need for themselves and their peers to go outside of the confines of a classroom and serve as an advocate to end domestic and sexual violence,” says Pauline. “While they came into this course focused on planning an event, it has turned into so much more as they now understand social responsibility. Vera House has been a tremendous organization to partner with this semester. The impact this project has left on each and every one of them professionally and personally is tremendous.”
“We are extremely grateful to be named the beneficiary of Falk College Sport Venue and Event Management graduate program’s golf tournament,” says Vera House Executive Director Randi Bregman. “The proceeds from this great event will sustain our services and programs that help us achieve our mission to prevent, respond to, and partner to end domestic and sexual violence and other forms of abuse. We would like to thank all those involved in organizing the event, including the Sport Venue and Event Management class from Falk College, associate professor of sport management Gina Pauline, and Timber Banks Golf Club. We also look forward to future collaboration and partnering with Falk College students to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault.”
The graduate students in the incoming class will now continue the work by organizing the event for the second year in which they hope to add to the success of the event as well as have different auxiliary events throughout the year to support both their learning as well as the work of Vera House.
Crunching Major League Numbers – New Sport Analytics, B.S.
Jay Cox | Syracuse University Magazine | Summer 2016 | Vol 33 | No. 2
The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) season is barely underway and Colby Conetta ’17, the president of the Syracuse University Baseball Statistics and Sabermetrics Club, stands in front of club members in a Falk College lecture hall and leads them through a This Week in Baseball rundown: who’s hot (Orioles with a 7-0 start), who’s not (the winless Twins and Braves), and some random observations (legendary broadcaster Vin Scully made a Socrates reference). “I would like to proclaim the Twins dead one week into the season,” says Conetta, a sport management major.
No disagreement there among members of the club, which formed in 2013. But hang around long enough and there’s sure to be debate—for these students are aficionados of advanced statistical analysis, or sabermetrics, a term coined in 1980 by baseball stats guru Bill James and popularized by the film Moneyball. “The whole evolution has become this constant struggle to find in the data something that will give your team the edge,” says Falk College sport management professor Rodney Paul, a sports economist and the club’s faculty advisor.
Data analytics is an instrumental part of the world of professional sports these days, and in recognition of that, Falk College has launched a new bachelor of science degree program in sport analytics that begins this fall. The first of its kind in the country, the program, in collaboration with other schools and departments on campus, will help students develop expertise in such areas as database management, computer programming, and sport economics. “Our students will be prepared to think conceptually and analytically while applying these principles to real issues in sport organizations,” Paul says.
Paul attributes the program’s genesis to student interest, the success of several recent sport management graduates entering the field, and the sabermetrics club’s stellar performances in research competitions, including a strong showing in March at the Diamond Dollars Case Competition, held in Phoenix as part of the annual Society of American Baseball Research Analytics (SABR) Conference. The team was tasked with assembling an ideal bullpen for the Pittsburgh Pirates and presented its findings to a panel of MLB executives. “We pretty much had to construct a bullpen from scratch, with certain rules in place,” says club vice president Joey Weinberg ’17, a sport management major. Club member Matt Russo ’17 enjoyed the challenge of fielding questions about their methodology and decision-making process from baseball executives. “It was a little intimidating, but it was really great to do and we had fun,” says Russo, a sport management major.
In 2014, the club presented a research paper on “The Effects of Atmospheric Conditions on Pitchers” at the prestigious MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston. The research, which members collaborated on with Paul and a co-author, was also featured in ESPN The Magazine. “Virtually everybody with the club at the time was involved in one way or another,” Paul says. “It was a fun project.”
In conversation, club members wield such acronyms as WAR (wins above replacement), wRC+ (weighted runs created plus), wOBA (weighted on-base average), and FIP (fielding-independent pitching). They revel in the ammunition the stats provide as a way to compare players, past and present, and fuel their debates, which some day could take place in the halls of an MLB office. “All sports have randomness,” Conetta says. “In baseball, stats are the best way to control the randomness. You can find a pretty decent picture of what’s going on through all the noise and clutter.” —Jay Cox
Sport Management student covers the Olympics with NBC
Millions of viewers watch as elite athletes like Michael Phelps, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky shatter records at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But what typical fans don’t notice is the marketing, communication and event management that happens behind the scenes to make it all possible. It’s a sector of the industry that Sport Management students at Falk College are looking to pursue after graduation, including Chris Henderson ’18.
This summer, Henderson is working in the midst of this global sporting event, putting his education into practice at the Rio Olympics while interning for NBC. “It has been an amazing experience so far,” said Henderson. “It really turned out the best it possibly could.”
In the communications department, Henderson starts his morning by preparing a detailed news coverage report. Using different search terms, he monitors news stories to help gather what viewers are saying about the Olympic coverage. After providing a coverage report, Henderson is assigned to a television station where for each game, he gathers notes and quotes for afternoon and primetime press releases.
While coursework covers a variety of skills and topics from marketing and event management to ethics and law, hands-on experience is a critical portion of Falk College’s Sport Management curriculum, which students acquire through internships, study abroad opportunities and the senior Capstone.
“My co-workers have been great,” said Henderson. “The communications department brought a very small team down to Rio, so it has been easy to get to know the whole department. Two of the six went to Syracuse University, so it’s a very easy connection.”
In addition to its undergraduate degree in Sport Management and a master’s program in Sport Venue and Event Management, Falk College recently launched a bachelor of science in Sport Analytics focusing on topics such as economics, finance and technology.
As part of the BIG Initiative, Henderson was recently selected as the Valedictorian for the 2017 Michigan Sport Business Conference, where he will have the opportunity to speak to industry professionals and his peers at the University of Michigan in October. Each year, the Michigan Sports Business Conference BIG Initiative recognizes 10 outstanding students who demonstrate exceptional accomplishment and leadership.
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