The start of school (at least for me)

While Briana has been in school for about a month, since Ohio State is on the quarter system, last Wednesday was my first "official" day. This year is amazingly my 20th year in education! I started at University Middle School in Waco in 1988. I also was over technology for the Waco Independent School District and a teacher/coach at University High School before leaving Waco in 1998. I was then a graduate teaching assistant at Ohio State while pursuing my Ph.D., followed by stints at the University of Oklahoma (as a visiting assistant professor) and DeSales University (near Allentown, PA, as an assistant professor and director of sport management). In 2004, I returned to The Ohio State University. I am now in my 4th year back in Columbus and besides being an assistant professor, I am the sport management program coordinator.

Ohio State is my dream job. While I teach an undergraduate class each quarter, we only have graduate programs in sport management. Because we are highly selective (we only accept around 35 out of 100-125 master's applicants and only 3-5 doctoral students out of around 40 applicants), we get some of the best students in the country. They are what make my job so fun and interesting. For example, this year's master's class includes an NCAA champion (in swimming; she held an American record until this summer), a student with a WNBA championship ring (the video coordinator for the Detroit Shock), and a current Ohio State cheerleader (he also cheered at Tarleton State during his undergraduate years and Oklahoma State when he was completing his 1st master's degree). In addition, I have 3 doctoral students (1 is a 4 time college champion in synchronized swimming) and have advised 2 other doctoral students who are now assistant professors (1 at the University of Louisville and 1 at Southern Illinois University). Probably the best thing about being a college professor is the flexibility in choosing my work hours. I teach 4 days a week (an hour and a half each day), but besides a few meetings, I can choose when I go in and when I leave work (as long as I finish what I need to do). This allows me to (usually) take Briana to school each day. If I don't have a meeting, I usually work from home on Friday. After the first couple of weeks of classes, I spend most of my time conducting research. In the spring, I only teach 1 class (2 days/week) so I am able to even further focus on my research. Besides teaching and resarch, I also get to interact with executives and administrators from sport organizations to help improve our program and to help students secure jobs.