story by Jackson Sears
Sport Administration Doctoral Student
A team of four sport administration master’s students from Georgia State University’s Department of Kinesiology and Health earned first place honors at the 2024 College Sport Research Institute (CSRI) Conference Case Study Competition. The national competition is part of the annual CSRI conference, held March 20-22 at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.
Georgia State’s team members included graduate students Anna Lipsman, Ashley Hohmann, Michelle Vazquez and Rachel Moss. The case study team was advised by kinesiology Ph.D. students Natalie Bunch and Jackson Sears.
For the case study, the students were tasked with creating new strategies to reduce burnout amongst graduate assistants (GAs) working in roles within college sport. They were given three weeks to prepare their solution before presenting to the judges at the conference. The Georgia State team competed against graduate teams from around the country. After being named the winners, they presented their findings to the entire conference in a special session.
The team crafted a presentation which featured actionable and attainable solutions backed by scholarly research for athletic departments to implement as part of a GA policy. Each member of Georgia State’s team currently holds a graduate assistantship and used their experience and graduate education to create the policy. Lipsman is a strength and conditioning GA for Georgia State Athletics, Hohmann works for Georgia State’s sport administration program, Vazquez works in the Student Recreation Center and Moss works in sport information with Agnes Scott College Athletics.
“Our curriculum – especially our Mental Health Systems and Policy in Sport Administration class with Assistant Professor Lauren Beasley, where we had to make a mental health policy, and our Sport Leadership class with Professor Beth Cianfrone – helped propel us to victory,” Hohmann said.
This marked the sport administration program’s ninth appearance in the case study competition at CSRI and the program’s second victory, with the last win coming at the 2015 conference.
At the conference, Bunch and fellow doctoral student Tyler Williams presented research about sports communicators with alum Kelly Elliot (Ph.D. ’19), and alum Matthew Blaszka (M.S. ’11) presented his current research. The team also met with alum Miranda Giddens (M.S. ’15), who works as an athletic academic advisor at the University of South Carolina for the No. 1 ranked Gamecocks women’s basketball team.
The sport administration program is housed in the College of Education & Human Development’s Department of Kinesiology and Health. The program offers a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in sport administration, a Master of Science in Sport Administration and a Ph.D. in Kinesiology with a concentration in sport administration. The M.S. program is currently ranked No. 12 globally by Sport Business International. The sport administration program is home to the Center for Sport and Urban Policy and the Rankin Cooter Bureau for Sport Business Research.
For program information, contact Cianfrone at [email protected]. For the latest information, follow the program on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram at @GSUSportAdmin.