The Engaged Learner: Undergraduate Research and the Super Bowl

Abstract

Laudable attempts within the sport management discipline, such as the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) Teaching & Learning Fair and the Sport Management Education Journal (SMEJ), have been made to enhance and showcase how research and teaching ideally should be intertwined. Further, COSMA (Commission on Sport Management Accreditation, 2022) lists research/undergraduate research as an “Innovation” under its Common Professional Component (undergraduate only) within their accreditation manual. This is not surprising considering many agree that the main difference between undergraduate and graduate academic models within sport management “are the degree of research involvement” (Kelley et al., 1994, p. 95). Undergraduate research continues to be noted as a “high-impact practice” by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), while student involvement in research has been shown to positively impact student retention and academic performance (Jones et al., 2010; Lanning & Brown, 2019), in addition to fostering campus engagement (Kuh, 2012).