242 NEW MTSU JOURNAL SEEKS TO CHANGE FACE OF SPORT INDUSTRY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 22, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

NEW MTSU JOURNAL SEEKS TO CHANGE FACE OF SPORT INDUSTRY
Empowerment of Practitioners Is Driving Force Behind MTSU Professor’s Brainchild

(MURFREESBORO) – MTSU’s Sport Management Program will be the point of origin of a new scholarly journal that will provide cutting-edge research on issues affecting the sport industry.
A call for papers will be issued soon to scholars around the world requesting submissions for the Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision. The publication is the brainchild of Dr. Colby Jubenville, associate professor of health and human performance and coordinator of that department’s graduate program.
“We are soliciting some of the top academics and practicing professionals in the sport industry to them know that we want to provide a platform from which information can be produced and consumed, and that we want them to be part of this process,” Jubenville says.
In a twist on conventional academic publications, Jubenville says that, in addition to academicians, sport practitioners will be allowed to review scholars’ works, examine their research, and assess whether it is useful to them.
“One of the things that we must provide is a foundation of theory, but we also need to be a conduit to channel that theory into meaningful application, because that is a glaring void in modern sport industry,” Jubenville says.
Dr. Benjamin Goss of Missouri State University, another founder of the journal who serves as its editor-in-chief, says that such a void exists because of a basic misunderstanding or fear of research in the sport industry.
“Until recently, many sport-related and sport management college program curricula have not had any basic research courses or even any business-based research/statistics courses,” Goss says. “So research can rightfully be seen as very intimidating by the average practitioner.”
Goss asserts that the journal will seek actively to package research in ways that will make it accessible and user-friendly to league and team administrators, coaches and managers.
“We will be very aggressive with efforts to publicize the essential findings of the research in palatable ways that the media can understand and utilize,” Goss says. “If practitioners on our review board give their stamps of approval to pieces of research, we feel confident that other practitioners across sport can understand it, particularly at the upper administrative levels, because almost all of those sport managers are ultra-savvy business people who work with information constantly in making decisions.”
Possible issues to be tackled by writers for the journal include the influence of drug cultures on sport; parental involvement with youth spots; the impact of globalization and internationalization of sport; images, role models and sportsmanship; the impact of marketing practices (sponsorships, branding, advertising, etc.) on sport; and influences of television on decision-making on high school/college athletics.
The future and the face of sport is ultimately what we’re going to address here,” Jubenville says.
The journal’s layout and design were created largely by MTSU doctoral student Mike Martinez. A former sports information specialist for The University of Southern Mississippi and sportswriter, Martinez brings his graphic arts, journalism and public relations skills to the project.
“For me, this is a good fit because I’m kind of both sides of the coin,” Martinez says. “My perception of education is not only to teach people to think critically but be productive in what they choose to do.”
Artwork for the journal will be provided by Douglas C. Hess of Madison, Ala. Hess, whose imagery has been compared to that of Norman Rockwell, has captured numerous sports moments, such as Bear Bryant’s final victory as head football coach at the University of Alabama and the Tennessee Titans’ “Music City Miracle,” on canvas.
Through a partnership with the University of Michigan Library’s Scholarly Publishing Office, which will house the journal, and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, as well as generous donations from a benefactor who supports the journal’s mission, Jubenville says he expects the first issue to be released in late 2008 or early 2009.
For more information, contact Jubenville at 615-898-2909 or jubenvil@mtsu.edu or Goss at 417-836-6592 or drbengoss@hotmail.com. The journal’s Web site is http://www.jsasonline.org.
A podcast of Jubenville’s interview on “MTSU On the Record,” originally broadcast Dec. 16, 2007, on WMOT-FM, is available at http://www.mtsu.edu/~proffice/podcast2007.html. Radio-ready news stories and audio clips are available for radio stations at http://www.mtsu.edu/~proffice/audio/audio_clips.html.


--30--

ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color jpeg of Douglas C. Hess’s art or interviews with Dr. Colby Jubenville or Dr. Ben Goss, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.