Sports Division
Welcome to BEA’s Sports Division, established in April 2008. For a long time sports wore the tag of the “toy store.” No serious study of the media could include a look at sports. But, times have changed. Academics as well as non-academics have seen that, for better or worse, sports are an essential element of U.S. and worldwide culture. This has led to a surge in academic organizations that recognize and embrace sports as a legitimate intellectual pursuit. A number of academic journals have been developed all devoted to sports, and schools that have sports-related classes, and even majors, are growing in number as we speak. All of those things helped spur BEA to begin a Sports Division.
Leadership
Chair: Kyle Miller
Northwest Missouri State University
kjmiller@nwmissouri.edu
Vice Chair: Eric Esterline
University of Florida
eesterline@jou.ufl.edu
Paper Chair: Nick Artman
Slippery Rock University
nicholas.artman@sru.edu
Festival Leadership
Senior Festival Chair: Eric Esterline
University of Florida
eesterline@jou.ufl.edu
Faculty Festival Chair: John Shrader
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
john.shrader@unl.edu
Student Festival Chair: Suzy Smith
Ball State University
sjsmith@bsu.edu