Last week, the St. Bonaventure University Faculty Senate voted on and approved a sports management major for the school of business.
The major currently needs New York State approval before being implemented in the school’s curriculum. A full launch of the major is expected to be next fall semester, according to the school’s dean.
Sports management has been offered previously as a minor by the School of Business but not as a major.
“For our students, you market yourself based on your major and can specialize based on a minor,” said. Dr. Matercia James, dean of the School of Business. “So having a sports management minor was not as valuable to a student who had an in-depth interest or passion for sports management. The sports management that we developed and are offering is a business major. It is the business aspect that students were asking for and didn’t have, so we thought it would be important and valuable to the entire school to have a sports business major on campus.”
The formal process of establishing the major began in the spring of 2019, James said.
“First, our School of Business faculty voted on it to see if it was something that was viable, that would add value to the school of business and to the student experience,” James said. “Once we decided as a school it was something we wanted to do, we then would move it forward for university approval. We did research, but we also had information from various people in the field about the demand of a bachelor’s degree in sports management.”
Dr. Mark Wilson, associate professor of finance, will chair the sports management department. He is currently the advisor for the sports management minor. Wilson said he has been asked by prospective students about the school not having a sports management major.
“I think prospective students make decisions on where to go to college much more on the availability on their particular major than they would on a particular minor,” Wilson said. “I have certainly heard from students when I meet them at open houses, it’s a question I get asked regularly about. I am not an admissions counselor, so it’s not like I’m constantly talking to students, but the students I talk to at these open houses, it comes up regularly that there seems to be a lot of student interest in this field.”
James said the major will pick up interest with new classes more so than current classes.
“When you talk about our internal students, you probably wouldn’t get as many current business students asking about sports management, because we missed that group of students,” James said. “We don’t have that many sports management minors, because students go to a place based on majors. We are anticipating that would be a whole new group of students to the richness of the student body here.”
Mary Coombs, assistant dean of the business school, said this major will add to what the school already has to offer.
“We already have a rich history of what we have in the school of business,” said Coombs. “Being ACC accredited, the faculty members we teach, the extracurricular activities we have, the leadership center, the entrepreneurship center, Enactus, there is a gamut of things students can do inside the class and outside. It is going to enhance what we already have.”
Matt Johnson, a senior finance major, said he likes the idea of the new major.
“I think they are doing it to compete with Niagara,” Johnson said. “I think it’s good to keep us competitive, and I think it will attract more students.”
The business school, accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, would have five majors once approved.
By Jeremy Castro, Associate Editor
castroja17@bonaventure.edu
