MSPM-SPMG - Master of Sport Management
Download as PDF
Program Description
The Master of Sport Management at Catawba prepares students for life in the fast lane as they prepare for careers in motorsports, professional and collegiate sports, and the business side of sport. Students will gain intensive, hands-on experience in a field that is important to our society in the way that sports can connect people together. Within the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, the Master of Sport Management offers a 36-hour curriculum face-to-face, student cohort model delivered over 21 months allowing graduate students to actively engage in premier sports properties and venues throughout the region and country. Domestic and International travel is built into the curriculum as students will travel to either Washington, DC, New York, or Boston during their first summer in the program for Sport Facilities and Events Management, then travel to Europe during their second spring/summer for European Model of Sport. The culminating assignment for Catawba’s Sport Management graduate students will be their written thesis and oral defense.
Industry Engagement Hours
All students are required to accrue a minimum of 15 hours/week engaged with a local sport property. Acceptable forms of engagement are full-time work, part-time work, volunteering, shadowing, etc. It is the responsibility of the student to secure their own site but the MSPM faculty may assist in this process if needed. Flexibility and accommodations can be made concerning the number of hours depending on the students’ circumstance (e.g., 5th year student athlete).
Thesis Requirements and Expectations
The culminating assignment for Catawba’s Sport Management graduate students will be their written thesis and oral defense. A master’s thesis is a piece of original scholarship written under the direction of a faculty advisor. A master’s thesis is similar to a doctoral dissertation, but it is generally shorter and more narrowly focused. As a rule of thumb, a master’s thesis should be publishable as a single article, though it might be longer than a typical article. Students who choose to write a master’s thesis often do so because they are interested in pursuing further research. Like a good journal article, a master’s thesis will respond to a debate, problem, issue, question, or topic surrounding sport management.
A master’s thesis is generally 40-80 pages, not including references. However, the length can vary drastically according to the topic and the method of analysis, so the appropriate length will be determined by you and your committee. Students who write a master’s thesis generally do so over 2-3 semesters.
Students who are interested in writing a master’s thesis should begin thinking about possible topics early in the program. Good research questions often have their origins in seminar papers or class discussions. Keep an idea file where you jot down potential research ideas. Be on the lookout for new data that might help provide new insights into a topic, or for past research that might be productively replicated in other circumstances.
Your Advisor and Your Committee
In order to write a master’s thesis you must find a faculty member who is willing to be your thesis advisor. A master’s committee consists of 3 members:
• The Chair (i.e., your thesis advisor)
• Another faculty member from the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance at Catawba College
• One person of the student’s own choosing. The third member does not necessarily need to be a faculty member.
Your faculty advisor can help you assemble this committee. Your advisor will be your chief contact while you are writing the master’s thesis, but you should stay in touch with the other members of the committee especially so that they are aware when you are close to completion. When you have a polished draft that is approved by your faculty advisor, you will arrange to have an oral defense of the thesis. Please keep in mind that all members of your committee are required to be present during your defense. The usual result of a defense is that the thesis is approved pending some major or minor changes.
When scheduling the defense, please remember to allow time for faculty members to read the thesis after you give it to them: they cannot necessarily drop everything to read a 50+ page document if you give it to them only 1-2 days before the defense.
Human Subjects Research
If you are planning to conduct interviews, surveys, focus groups, or do other research involving human subjects, you MUST obtain prior approval from the Catawba College Institutional Review Board (IRB) Committee. You can find out more about this on the web page: catawba.edu/irb.
It is your responsibility, as the student, to pursue IRB approval if needed. Your advisor may assist you in filling out the proposal form. The IRB Committee typically meets every Tuesday to approve human subjects research proposals. The deadline for submitting proposals to be heard the next week are Fridays by 12:00pm. Estimated timeline for hearing back from IRB is 5-10 business days.
Industry Engagement Hours
All students are required to accrue a minimum of 15 hours/week engaged with a local sport property. Acceptable forms of engagement are full-time work, part-time work, volunteering, shadowing, etc. It is the responsibility of the student to secure their own site but the MSPM faculty may assist in this process if needed. Flexibility and accommodations can be made concerning the number of hours depending on the students’ circumstance (e.g., 5th year student athlete).
Thesis Requirements and Expectations
The culminating assignment for Catawba’s Sport Management graduate students will be their written thesis and oral defense. A master’s thesis is a piece of original scholarship written under the direction of a faculty advisor. A master’s thesis is similar to a doctoral dissertation, but it is generally shorter and more narrowly focused. As a rule of thumb, a master’s thesis should be publishable as a single article, though it might be longer than a typical article. Students who choose to write a master’s thesis often do so because they are interested in pursuing further research. Like a good journal article, a master’s thesis will respond to a debate, problem, issue, question, or topic surrounding sport management.
A master’s thesis is generally 40-80 pages, not including references. However, the length can vary drastically according to the topic and the method of analysis, so the appropriate length will be determined by you and your committee. Students who write a master’s thesis generally do so over 2-3 semesters.
Students who are interested in writing a master’s thesis should begin thinking about possible topics early in the program. Good research questions often have their origins in seminar papers or class discussions. Keep an idea file where you jot down potential research ideas. Be on the lookout for new data that might help provide new insights into a topic, or for past research that might be productively replicated in other circumstances.
Your Advisor and Your Committee
In order to write a master’s thesis you must find a faculty member who is willing to be your thesis advisor. A master’s committee consists of 3 members:
• The Chair (i.e., your thesis advisor)
• Another faculty member from the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance at Catawba College
• One person of the student’s own choosing. The third member does not necessarily need to be a faculty member.
Your faculty advisor can help you assemble this committee. Your advisor will be your chief contact while you are writing the master’s thesis, but you should stay in touch with the other members of the committee especially so that they are aware when you are close to completion. When you have a polished draft that is approved by your faculty advisor, you will arrange to have an oral defense of the thesis. Please keep in mind that all members of your committee are required to be present during your defense. The usual result of a defense is that the thesis is approved pending some major or minor changes.
When scheduling the defense, please remember to allow time for faculty members to read the thesis after you give it to them: they cannot necessarily drop everything to read a 50+ page document if you give it to them only 1-2 days before the defense.
Human Subjects Research
If you are planning to conduct interviews, surveys, focus groups, or do other research involving human subjects, you MUST obtain prior approval from the Catawba College Institutional Review Board (IRB) Committee. You can find out more about this on the web page: catawba.edu/irb.
It is your responsibility, as the student, to pursue IRB approval if needed. Your advisor may assist you in filling out the proposal form. The IRB Committee typically meets every Tuesday to approve human subjects research proposals. The deadline for submitting proposals to be heard the next week are Fridays by 12:00pm. Estimated timeline for hearing back from IRB is 5-10 business days.
Degree Designation
Master of Sport Management
Program Level
Masters