IUPUI: Where Sports Management Faculty Go the Extra Mile

Choosing a college is hard for students for many reasons, but it can be equally as hard on the parents. Regardless of your viewpoint—parent, future student, mentor—you want to be assured that students are well taken care of and set up for success. That starts with the university's faculty.

Take it from former IUPUI students: the sports management faculty here are among the best in the business. They care for students and genuinely want them to succeed during their time at IUPUI and beyond.

“The faculty in the TESM [tourism, event, and sport management] department were absolutely amazing,” sports management alum Kyle Mechelin said. “Every one of the faculty members genuinely cares about the success of their students and are incredible resources to building connections in the industry and learning.”

Joshua Mears added to that by saying, “All of the faculty for TESM made me feel like they cared about each person individually. The professionalism and credibility that they all had was also amazing.”

Many programs and universities can claim the same from their faculty, but Joshua White didn’t have these experiences with faculty until transferring to IUPUI.

“I have been to two other universities and there is absolutely no comparison,” White said. “The second day of class every professor knew my name, not one knew my name the entire time at the other universities.”

Not only do the professors genuinely want the best for their students, but they have the industry experience, connections, and skillset to make sure they succeed.

Nearly every sports management professor that students meet at IUPUI will have had prior experience working in the industry or still do work in the industry in addition to teaching. This makes all the difference in the quality of education students receive.

“My favorite thing about the faculty is that they have real world experience in the industry,” Rachel Lohman said. “Instead of just lecturing in the classroom, our faculty can be seen working at all the events within the city.”

As a result of that industry experience, IUPUI sports management faculty have an abundance of connections in the sports scene of Indianapolis.

“The teachers have so many connections to people who work in the industry that finding an internship and what I hope, a job, is easy,” Neil Gusky said. “If you let them know what you are interested in doing, they can give you at least three contacts of people who you can talk to about finding work.”

David Burke echoed Gusky’s comments by adding, “If a student truly wants to have a career in sports, IUPUI sports management offers so many different opportunities in order to make this a career. The connections the faculty have already set us apart from any other sports management program, and the location is a major advantage as well.”