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Introducing a New Major Track in Sport Communication!
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 On Saturday night, my husband and I crammed into Rupp Arena with about 24,000 of our closest friends to watch UK take on Tennessee. Millions more watched the game on television. Why? What is it about Kentucky Basketball, sport in general, that drives us to buy the tickets and apparel and spend hours watching and talking about a game most of us don’t play? Sport can unite us, divide us, and teach us about teamwork, comradery, and competition. We don’t just follow the team. We are the team. We are the Big Blue Nation. We Bleed Blue. Sport brings us together and builds community. It’s also big business.
The North America sports market is expected to reach $80.3 billion by 2022,[1] while the global sports market is estimated at over $600 billion.[2] The sports industry is a major growth sector for brands, driven by media rights and sponsorships.[3] Job growth in the sports industry continues to accelerate, particularly in communication, marketing, and community  relations.[4] To meet this demand, the Department of Communication recently proposed a new major track in Sport Communication. Professors Nicky Lewis, Don Lowe, Anthony Limperos, and Andy Pilny all study different aspects of sport communication and worked collaboratively to develop the curriculum. Courses examine how we communicate and engage with sports industries and audiences, statistics and analytics, culture and fanship, and social media and technology. We also want to incorporate your feedback as we develop the program. If you are currently working in any sector of the sports industry, please email me directly at shari.veil@uky.edu. We want to know what you are doing and how we can better prepare our students for positions in the field.
Congratulations!
We are proud to announce that Drs. Allison Scott Gordon and Kevin Real were recently awarded endowed professorships to support their research.
Dr. Gordon received the Douglas A. and Carole A. Boyd Professorship in Communication. The Boyd Professorship is  awarded to a Department of Communication faculty member who has made outstanding contributions to social scientific research and graduate education in the field of Communication. Dr. Gordon’s research focuses on how the quality of people’s interpersonal communication affects their health decisions. She has published widely on end-of-life decision making in families and is currently a Co-Investigator on an R21 grant project funded by the National Institutes of Health that is examining how to improve measures of communication in clinical settings.
Dr. Real received the H. Lester Reynolds Professorship in Engineering. The Reynolds Professorship supports the staff and faculty of the College of Engineering in enhancing the oral  and written communication skills of engineering undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Real’s research focuses on communication in healthcare organizations. Specifically, he examines communication and healthcare design in hospitals, health care teams, and patient safety. He recently received a Michael Brill Grant in Urban Communication and Design Behavior from the Environmental Design Research Association.
Alumni Spotlight
Check out what some of our alumni are up to below and then complete a profile update or just send me an email, so we can brag about you in an upcoming issue!
Shari R. Veil, MBA, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Communication
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs,
College of Communication and Information
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Angela Cooke, MPH
Associate Professor
California State University
I am an Associate Professor of Health and Behavioral Science in the Communication Studies Department at CSULA. My research centers around the nexus of health and behavioral science with an emphasis on sexual health, memorable messages and health communication to address health disparities among disparate and underserved populations.
I am a professor because I enjoy teaching, mentoring and research scholarship. Having a degree in health communication in tandem with my MPH has worked well together specifically for my involvement with community advocacy and consulting work.
John E. Neihof, Jr., Ph.D.
President
Wesley Biblical Seminary
I serve as president of Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, MS and have a passion for Biblical and theological education.
Pastors are measured most frequently by one standard: “Can they preach?” Not only can I preach, I also teach others how to do the same. Because of my communication degree I think and argue with evidence. I tell our theologians and Biblical scholars: “I’m not a theologian or a Bible scholar. I’m a communicator.” And I am. My degrees from UK equipped me with critical thinking, writing, and rhetorical skills that serve me well as a leader in theological education. My communication skills cultivated at UK have helped me to become an effective fund-raiser, teacher, author, and Christian leader.
 Elyse Vincent
Senior Project Director
Ispos
I am currently a Senior Project Director at Ipsos, a global market research company, and based in Cincinnati, OH. I love project management, you really have to keep everything moving and be on top of your game to make sure projects are moving forward. A lot of time my projects and tasks are puzzles so to say, you have to problem solve and figure out the best way to move forward and achieve your objectives.
I think my communication degree really allowed me to learn about a variety of things; and while I didn't know it at the time, I really feel it showed me a path to project management and my passion for working with people. I learned how to interact and communicate effectively which is one of the biggest keys to being successful in any job. I truly believe that a degree in communication can set you on any path you wish to achieve but absolutely in the business, marketing and project management roles.
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Brian Troyer
Dean of Admissions
Marquette University
Currently, I'm the Dean of Admissions at Marquette University. I've worked in college admissions since graduating from UK (first at UK, then at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and now at Marquette). I love doing what I do because of the dynamic nature of the work, and because working in college admissions provides opportunity to support both high school (prospective) and college (current) students.
I'm currently working on my PhD in Educational Policy and Leadership at Marquette University. I've always felt that my communication degree at UK provided me with unique opportunities to develop critical thinking skills, and the ability to communicate with a wide variety of people - often simultaneously - throughout the day. Whether it's managing an office of 35+ employees, supporting colleagues, or working with administrators and board members, I believe the skills I developed and experiences I had as a communication major have served me incredibly well.
 Elizabeth L. Petrun Sayers, Ph.D
Full Behavioral and Social Scientist
Behavioral and Policy Sciences Department
RAND Corporation
I am a behavioral and social scientist for the non-partisan, international non-profit RAND Corporation. I get to solve real-world problems every day. This summer, I got to work with over 100 of my colleagues to support the Government of Puerto Rico by writing a plan for the island's recovery in the aftermath of Hurricanes Maria and Irma. I was the co-lead on the community planning and capacity building (CPCB) sector, which involves community engagement and communication. While it was a really tough project in that I met with residents who lost family members, their jobs, their homes, and their communities due to outmigration, I am thankful and empowered that I could help in some small way.
I am one of three researchers of about ~1,175 Ph.D. level staff with a background in communication. We have a lot of economists, psychologists, epidemiologists, engineers, and more. However, I can tell you the three of us are always busy because communication research is interdisciplinary and many fields have a need help to answer communication-related research questions. In addition to research, my strategic communication background directly supported my ability to write contract and grant proposals, an internal newsletter, blogs, op-eds, magazine articles, and more which I use to disseminate research results to the policy world.
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Help our outstanding students continue to achieve by giving to our Communication Scholarship Fund “Communication Fund for Excellence.”
Any gift will be appreciated, no gift is too small.
Thank you. |
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