by Jake Colliano
The sports management major offers many opportunities to college students who are looking for their profession. Professor Jeb Gorham is the primary advisor for sports management, teaching a variety of classes that help set them up to achieve success.
Some of the classes offered in the major include sports management, sports finance, and sports law, all of which Professor Gorham teaches. In a recent interview, he said his favorite class to teach was Organizational Management, which is an intro class for business majors. He said, “Every course is fun because of the course projects where we work with the local community.”
Gorham has a bachelor’s degree biology with a minor in exercise science from Skidmore College, a master’s degree in kinesiology in exercise physiology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a doctorate in sports and exercise with a minor in statics and research methods from the University of Northern Colorado. Gorham has been employed at Southern Vermont College for three years now and enjoys teaching here. He developed the curriculum for the major based on his past educational and work experience in this field. He worked in the health, fitness, recreation and sports industry for more than 10 years.
The work done with the local community is done in groups with different activities to help form each group. A recent class worked with the organization Big Brothers Big Sisters, where they helped develop the organization more throughout the community. Other groups worked with Bennington Sports and Graphics and tried to help expand their online presence for more business. Many of the groups helped organizations succeed in different areas.
Sports management also offers internships to students who are looking for work in their field of study. Betsy Dunham, the internship director, has help many students find internships that involve just about anything related to the industry of sport and business. The sport industry is constantly growing and more opportunities are available in other areas of sport related jobs. An example is working with a college sports team and helping them throughout their season and learning the different coaching styles.
Some of these classes that work with the local community help tie the community with the college. Sports management is a class where students are put into groups and work with a local business to help them. This tie of working with the community and real life situations could help each student learn the basics of the class and real life.
Professor Gorham has had students work with large companies and small organizations. Marketing, finance, project planning, events, public relations, consulting, research and other projects are related to sports. Many internships can be local around the Southern Vermont area, or non local.
Professor Jeb Gorham said the major of Sports Management is very interesting and would highly recommend anyone to this major. The depth of the sport industry allows students to focus on their studies in various areas and find employment in something they enjoy doing. The industry is constantly growing and more and more jobs are becoming available for those who are interested in the Sports Management major.