UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Forbes, Amy
Dept./Program:
College of Education and Social Services
Year:
2011
Degree:
Ed. D.
Abstract:
As an extension ofhigher education, college athletic departments are exposed to tumultuous external environments which reflect cultural, economic, and societal shifts, daily. Not only are we impacted by larger changes affecting higher education but we are also intimately tied to the prevailing trends occurring within college athletics. Within the external sports environment, change can be characterized as rapid, unplanned and geared towards short gains while educational movements are frequently more pragmatic, slow and cumbersome. As a higher education enterprise unto themselves, athletic departments must manage and balance all ofthe systems in which they belong. Very often these worlds coexist peacefully but just as often they collide due to competing interests.
My experience as an academic advisor at a Division I institution has been one comprised of ethical dilemmas, challenging decisions and moral questioning. I would offer that athletic advisors sit on some ofour most seismic campus fault lines, where academic, athletic and student life divisions frequently converge. Often I feel loyal to both athletics and student affairs and a liaison to all. While I am fortunate to work within a conscientious athletic department that is philosophically sound, I see a great deal in terms of our daily struggle to balance an elite sports experience with academic pursuits along with our college students' ever pressing developmental needs. After a decade of immersion in college sports, I would describe myself as an avid fan and an uncomfortable observer of contemporary athletics, as a whole.
What's happened in athletics has coincided with the erosion of the liberal arts education and also, higher education's steady metamorphosis into a corporation where we've seen students' personal growth priorities featured with far less prominence. Similarly in athletics, our schedules, our emphasis and our culture offer sizeable roadblocks to one of our most important responsibilities, namely, helping college students craft meaning into their lives before they leave school to navigate the real world on his or her own. Whether addressing extreme off the field issues or managing the common questions that challenge the traditional-aged college student, we have compelling reasons to focus on a more holistic curriculum which takes into account the human spirit. Through a Scholarly Personal Narrative, I will offer how my desire to teach more meaning through sports has helped me reclaim my own personal life balance as well as favor processes that beget meaning-making for contemporary college athletes.
My experience as an academic advisor at a Division I institution has been one comprised of ethical dilemmas, challenging decisions and moral questioning. I would offer that athletic advisors sit on some ofour most seismic campus fault lines, where academic, athletic and student life divisions frequently converge. Often I feel loyal to both athletics and student affairs and a liaison to all. While I am fortunate to work within a conscientious athletic department that is philosophically sound, I see a great deal in terms of our daily struggle to balance an elite sports experience with academic pursuits along with our college students' ever pressing developmental needs. After a decade of immersion in college sports, I would describe myself as an avid fan and an uncomfortable observer of contemporary athletics, as a whole.
What's happened in athletics has coincided with the erosion of the liberal arts education and also, higher education's steady metamorphosis into a corporation where we've seen students' personal growth priorities featured with far less prominence. Similarly in athletics, our schedules, our emphasis and our culture offer sizeable roadblocks to one of our most important responsibilities, namely, helping college students craft meaning into their lives before they leave school to navigate the real world on his or her own. Whether addressing extreme off the field issues or managing the common questions that challenge the traditional-aged college student, we have compelling reasons to focus on a more holistic curriculum which takes into account the human spirit. Through a Scholarly Personal Narrative, I will offer how my desire to teach more meaning through sports has helped me reclaim my own personal life balance as well as favor processes that beget meaning-making for contemporary college athletes.