Student affairs personnel are often charged with the task of creating a strong sense of community (SOC) on university campuses. Sport is among one of the many extracurricular activities that historically has been used to meet this need for community among students. Yet, how and when a sense of community is created within a sport context has not been appropriately addressed in literature. Utilizing a symbolic interactionalist theoretical framework, this study employed a grounded theory approach and uncovered the necessary factors for creating a sense of community within two intercollegiate sport settings. First, 21 former university sport club participants were interviewed regarding their experiences. The results revealed that Common Interest, Leadership Opportunities, Amateurism/ Voluntary Activity, and Competition were the most critical components to creating a sense of community. These results along with the results of Warner and Dixon’s (in review; see Appendix F) sense of community study among varsity athletes, which concluded that Administrative Consideration, Leadership Opportunities, Equity in Administrative Decisions, Competition, and Social Spaces were the key factors to foster a sense of community, were then used to guide focus groups. Eight focus groups consisting of 39 current varsity and sport club athletes were then conducted to further examine and explain the differences and similarities that emerged between the two sense of community in sport models. The results propose a broad based sense of community within sport theory that considers the contextual contingencies surrounding an athlete-driven versus a professionally-administered sport model. The results contribute to community building and sport management theory, and provide practical solutions for enhancing the intercollegiate sport experience. The implications and philosophical differences between an athlete-directed sport experiences versus a more formalized and structured sport model are also discussed. / text

The goal of this study was to develop a detailed understanding of the academic, athletic, and psychosocial needs and issues of African American male student-athletes attending a predominately White public flagship institution of higher education during their transitional first year and determine if, how, and who were meeting these needs. In addition to the well-known lower graduation rates and academic struggles of African American male football players, there are numerous psychosocial and cultural issues and barriers these young men face during their transition such as commitment, discrimination, and isolation (Hyatt, 2003). Mentoring has been used as a tool for developing organizational members in many different contexts and disciplines such as business (Kram, 1985), higher education (Johnson, 2007), and sport management (Jones, Harris, & Miles, 2009). Further, since African American male student-athletes have an array of academic and psychosocial needs, researchers need to look beyond the traditional model of having one primary mentor and explore the potential of a “critical mass” or network of mentors. Twelve first-year African American male student-athletes participated in semi-structured interviews at the conclusion of the first and second semesters of their first year of college. Additional key institutional stakeholders included four upperclassmen African American male student-athletes, three former African American male student-athletes and four faculty and staff members, also participated in interviews with the researcher to add further insights into the first-year experience. Results indicated that African American male student-athletes went through five major transitions: an academic transition, an athletic transition, an athlete status transition, a transition into a less diverse environment, and a transition away from home. Ideal mentors for these individuals were typically African American men who provided role modeling, promoted critical thinking through interactive dialogue, and gave advice on personal and academic issues. Mentoring networks for this population must at least include African American males from the faculty and staff at the university and professionals in the community along with older teammates. Research findings will be of interest to researchers, administrators (academic and athletic), and practitioners who desire to improve the academic, psychosocial, athletic, and overall college experience of African American male student-athletes. / text

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-40).

This dissertation explores the topic of intercollegiate athletics at public community colleges in the United States. This study is national in scope and includes members of the three major community college athletic associations: the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), Commission on Athletics (COA), and the Northwest Athletic Association for Community Colleges (NWAACC). Community colleges that were not members of any of these organizations are also included. The sources of data are the Institutional Postsecondary Educational Data System (IPEDS) surveys as well as Equity in Athletic Disclosure Act (EADA) survey data and the Katsinas Community College Classification Scheme. The population for this study was the 567 public community colleges which submitted IPEDS data in 2001 and 2002 and EADA data in 2002. The geographic classification scheme for public community colleges used in this study revealed differences in the role of athletics in rural, suburban, and urban colleges. Rural community colleges place a larger emphasis on intercollegiate athletics. Urban colleges had a lesser emphasis on intercollegiate athletics. Topics that are examined include the extent of college sponsorship of athletics, athletic associations, student participation, sport sponsorship, athletically-related aid, divisions of competition, athletic revenues and expenses, state reimbursement, recruitment expenses, and staffing requirements. The dissertation includes six findings and four conclusions. There are fifteen recommendations for further research and eight recommendations for practice. Maps showing the locations of teams for each men's and women's sport played in the NJCAA, COA, and NWAACC are included in an appendix.

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The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the perceived development of life-long learning skills of Division I student-athletes and their non-athlete general student peers. Using grade point averages and graduation rates, athletics administrators are constantly evaluating the academic performance and growth of student-athletes by comparing their results with those of non-athlete general students. Though these traditional metrics are useful in many ways, there is little research on the self-reported development of life-long learning skills. Due to a changing global economy, employers are less concerned with the knowledge students possess at graduation and are more interested in a student’s ability to adapt to changes, think critically, and acquire information on their own and apply this new knowledge in an effort to create solutions to existing problems in a team based environment repeatedly over time. Collectively, these skills can be described as life-long learning skills. The Capacity for Life-Long Learning Index (CLLI), which is comprised of fourteen items from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ), purport to measure students’ perceived gains on academic skills relevant to life-long learning. This study compares scores on the CLLI for several different variables, including student-athletes, non-athlete general students, gender, class, and ethnicity to determine whether there were differences in the perceived gains in life-long learning skills. On the basis of the results of this study, the following conclusions seem warranted: 1. There were no significant differences in the CLLI score for student-athletes and non-athlete general students. viii 2. There were significant differences between the CLLI scores for female students, both student-athletes and non-athlete general students, and their male counterparts. 3. There were significant differences between the CLLI scores for senior students, both student-athletes and non-athlete general students, and their freshman student counterparts. 4. There were no significant differences between the CLLI scores among students of different ethnic groups. "

The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes of faculty at: (1) Division I NCAA and NAIA institutions, (2) Division I and II NAIA institutions on selected issues related to intercollegiate athletics, and (3) Division I NCAA and NAIA institutions toward selected issues related to intercollegiate athletics when demographics variables are considered. The problem was to determine if there were significant differences between the attitudes of the faculties.

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