United States Sports Academy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and the world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.
The United States Sports Academy is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the Bachelor of Sports Science degree (level II), the Masters of Sport Science degree (level III), and the Doctor of Sports Management degree (level V).
Past Academy graduates include Iowa State University Head Basketball Coach Greg McDermott; Texas Tech Head Football Coach Mike Leach; Western Michigan University Head Men's Basketball Coach Steve Hawkins; Dennis Lindsey of the Houston Rockets; Texas Christian Head Women’s Basketball Coach Jeff Mittie; University of Texas Associate Athletics Director Lynn Wheeler and Nashville Predators Director of Hockey Operations Michael Santos.
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[edit] History and Purpose
President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich founded the Academy in 1972, in direct response to the ever-increasing needs and demands in sport and society in America. From the beginning, the Academy’s general mission has been to serve the nation and the world as a sport education resource, upgrading sport through programs of instruction, research and service.
The Academy was born from the United States’ need for a national school of sport. This need was highlighted by the inferior United States’ performance at the 1972 Munich Olympiad, due largely to poor administration, lack of medical support and unscientific coaching and training.
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) was supportive of upgrading education in coaching, management and sports medicine. It provided a forum for an exchange of ideas. From the NACDA forum came the Academy’s first Board of Advisors (today’s Academy’s Board of Visitors). That advisory board played a key role in the development of the basic founding concepts for the establishment of a graduate institution for the education of teachers, coaches, sports medicine specialists and administrators, primarily at the nation’s secondary school level.
Implementation of these concepts fell to the governing Board of Directors (today’s Board of Trustees), which consisted of diverse professionals with specific expertise important to the formation of such an organization. The founding Board included Mr. Robert Block, media specialist; Mr. Charles Cape, attorney (deceased); Mr. Gerald Hock, accountant; Dr. George Uhlig, educator; and Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich, sport administrator. Three of these members continue to serve to this day.
Perhaps the true wealth of the Academy is its National Faculty that was developed during the Academy’s formative years. It consists of distinguished sport educators in all areas of sport. Members of the Academy’s National Faculty have served as sport specialists throughout the world. The Academy’s cultural exchange programs reach out to some 60 nations of the Americas, Africa and Asia.
A milestone in the Academy’s development was reached in 1976 with the signing of its first international agreement to deliver educational and training programs in the Kingdom of Bahrain, located in the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. Since that first agreement, the Academy has delivered a wide range of programs abroad. The scope of service in these programs has been as varied as the full-charge conduct of an entire national sport effort to individual seminars and symposia in international conferences.
In 1981, the Academy became a candidate for membership in the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The Academy was evaluated by SACS in 1983 and admitted to membership on 13 December 1983. Thus, the Academy became the nation’s first and only free-standing, accredited institution dedicated solely to professional graduate studies in sport. In the summer of 1986, a new milestone was reached when the Academy purchased a permanent campus in Daphne, Alabama, on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay. In the summer of 1988, following a two-year self study, the Academy received reaffirmation of accreditation from the Commission on Colleges of SACS. In 1996, the Academy was accredited at the doctoral level and the distance-learning delivery system was reviewed. Since then, the Academy has undergone its ten-year comprehensive self-study and a successful reaffirmation of accreditation was awarded in December 1998 for 10 years. The Bachelor of Sports Science degree program was reviewed and accredited in 2005, making the institution the only accredited sport university in the country.
One of the visions of the Academy during its conception was that it would be a university without walls, so that the Academy could meet the needs of its students by teaching sport in any location on the globe. The Academy has met this challenge and offers a great deal of flexibility to its students through innovative teaching practices such as mentorships, independent studies and individualized studies. The full promise of this concept was realized in the fall of 1993 with the introduction of the distance-learning delivery system that now enables master’s degree students to take their entire curriculum away from the Academy campus (with the exception of the comprehensive examination).
A secondary mission of the Academy has been the establishment and development of the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA). A division of the Academy, ASAMA is dedicated to the preservation of sport art and archival materials. Located in the main building on the Academy campus, the gallery has periodic exhibits by renowned sport artists throughout the year. An annual event for ASAMA is the Awards of Sport program. Designated as a tribute to the artist and the athlete, the medallion-series recognizes outstanding performances and contributions by national and international leaders, coaches, administrators, athletes and artists in the world of sport.
[edit] Accreditations and Approvals
Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The United States Sports Academy is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the Bachelor of Sports Science degree (level II), the Master of Sports Science degree (level III), and the Doctor of Sports Management degree (level V).
Note: The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools may be contacted with questions concerning accreditation. If you would like to reach them, please write to 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call (404) 679-4500
Sports Management Program Review Committee (SMPRC)
The Doctor of Sports Management (D.S.M.) and Master of Sports Science (M.S.S.) degrees are on the approved list of the Sports Management Program Review Committee (SMPRC), a joint committee of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM). These two organizations are the leading professional groups in sport education and sport management respectively. These affiliations recognize the quality and the value of the Academy's D.S.M. and M.S.S. programs in Sports Management.
- The United States Sports Academy's Sport Science in Coaching degree is approved and recognized by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP), which is the largest certifying body for coaches at the secondary level in the United States of America
Alabama State Licensure and Certification
The Academy is also licensed and approved by the Alabama Department of Education to grant the Master of Sport Science and the Doctor of Sport Management Degree.
Students seeking teaching certification in states other than Alabama should check with their local school district administration and State Department of Education. See the Academic Affairs section of this catalog for more information.
DANTES Approval
The United States Sports Academy has been approved by the United States Department of Defense to offer its master's degree courses to members of the Armed Forces including members of the Army National Guard.
DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support) has included the United States Sports Academy and its master's degree program in its DANTES External Degree Catalog.
[edit] Degree Programs
- Doctor of Sports Management
- Sports Coaching
- Sports Management
- Sports Fitness
- Sports Medicine
- Sport Studies
- Sports Coaching
- Sports Management
- Sports Studies
Continuing Education, Certificate & Certifications
Certificates
Certification Programs
- National Coaching Certification Program
Sport Diploma Programs
Students can choose to complete their degrees through summer resident study, online or through a combination of both. The Academy’s distance learning program offers students the flexibility to take classes online and earn degrees without leaving their homes or jobs. Students can enroll in their courses at any time and from any place.
The United States Sports Academy's continuing education and certification courses can be taken entirely through distance learning.
[edit] Academy Founder
Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich, founder and president of the United States Sports Academy, has been a major figure in sport around the world for over 40 years as a coach and an educator.
A native of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, he graduated from La Crosse State Teachers College in 1954, where he starred in football and in track. He earned a degree in physical education and history. Dr. Rosandich was inducted into UW-LaCrosse's Athletic Wall of Fame in 1983, and received the Maurice O. Graff Distinguished Alumnus Award from the school in May of 1989.
Following graduation, Dr. Rosandich entered the United States Marine Corps, in which he served for 10 years. He was founder and director of the first Marine Corps Schools Relays in Quantico, Virginia, and he was named the All-Marine Track and Field Coach, the All-Marine Cross Country Coach, and the All-Military Service Coach in 1956. He was appointed to the Olympic Track and Field Committee for the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia in 1956.
As a result of his work in coaching with the Marine Corps, Dr. Rosandich was named by the U.S. State Department to participate in a specialist program, "U.S. Ambassadors of Sport." For the next 20 years, between 1956 and 1976, Dr. Rosandich coached in 50 countries, preparing the teams in nations from Indonesia to Iran for international competition.
He was a national track coach for Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Borneo, and Indonesia in Olympiads from the 1956 Games in Melbourne to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was a consultant for the Panamanian Olympic Team in 1968, attended the 1972 Munich Olympics as a consultant for the Philippines, and was a Bahrain representative at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. In 1995 Dr. Rosandich was Team Leader of the U.S. Team Handball teams at the Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
During the early sixties, Dr. Rosandich was an early proponent of the Peace Corps in Southeast Asia and was extensively involved in developing policy for that organization because of his extensive experience in that area of the world. He was directly responsible for bringing the Peace Corps to Indonesia, which became the Sport Corps. During the same era, Dr. Rosandich was also responsible for the founding of what is now called the South East Asia (SEA) Games.
Dr. Rosandich is also the founder of Olympia Sport Village (1966) for training Olympic athletes, and he founded the Paavo Nurmi Marathon in 1971, the Golden Midwest in 1968, the All-American Prep Championships in 1970, and the International Prep Meet in 1971. He was inducted into the Helms Hall of Fame in 1972 for his significant contributions to track and field.
Dr. Rosandich served as athletic director of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (1967-72) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1972-76). At Milwaukee, Dr. Rosandich founded the United States Sports Academy in 1972. He has served as its chief executive officer since 1976.
In 1976, Dr. Rosandich stepped down as UWM athletic director and relocated the Academy to Alabama, first to Mobile and then in 1986 to Daphne. Under the leadership of Dr. Rosandich, the Academy, America's only free-standing, graduate school of sport, has grown to become the largest graduate program in sport education, not only in the United States but throughout the world. Students graduate in the sport disciplines of coaching, medicine, management and recreation management, at the Master of Sport Science level. In September 1990, the Academy began its doctoral program in Sport Management. For Dr. Rosandich, it has been the culmination of a lifetime of achievement in sport.
January 1995 saw Dr. Rosandich elected as president of the U.S. Team Handball Federation, and concurrently appointed as their representative on the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). He presently serves on the USOC's Education Committee, the Athlete Identification and Development Committee, and the International Relations Committee.
In 1997, Dr. Rosandich received the highest award of the International Olympic Committee, The Olympic Order. The Olympic Order is "bestowed upon persons who have illustrated the Olympic ideal through his action, has achieved remarkable merit in the sporting world, or has rendered outstanding services to the Olympic cause."
Dr. Rosandich was elected to the Executive Committee of the International World Youth Games Committee in 1998, and continues to assist that organization with their mission.
In 1999, Dr. Rosandich was appointed as President for North America, F.I.S.p.T. (Federation International Sports for All). In addition, he was appointed to the International Olympic Committee's Commission for Culture and Olympic Education.
Dr. Rosandich has received more than three dozen decorations for his work in sport, including the Order of Bahrain (that country's highest honor) in 1998, and the Pestalozzi Fellow Award from the European University in Montreaux, Switzerland in 1999. Most recently, Dr. Rosandich was bestowed the highest honor given by the United States Olympic Committee when he was awarded the President's Medal during the USOC's Annual Board meeting in Boston in April, 2000.
