Master of Athletic Administration

The Master of Science in Athletic Administration (MSAA) is designed to prepare students for leadership roles in the athletics and sport industry. The curriculum covers a range of topics including fiscal practices in athletic administration, ethical decision making in sport, and sports marketing and social media. Students learn to manage athletic organizations and work with sport professionals.

Students in this program will develop skills such as leadership, strategic planning, financial management, marketing and branding, event management, legal and compliance knowledge, communication, research and data analysis, ethics and values that are valuable in the sports industry.

RESOURCES

  • Program Details

    Each semester in the Graduate International MSAA Program, students take four (4) credit hours in a hybrid 16-week format with an online component and a mandatory weekend face-to-face residency and three (3) credit hours in a fully online 8-week class. 


    • Hybrid Coursework allows you to study wherever you are with only one 3-day residency required each semester.

    • Competitive tuition

    • Knowledgeable Faculty


  • Degree Outlook

    Graduates of the MSAA program can pursue various careers in athletic administration, including roles such as Athletic Director, Sports Information Director, Compliance Coordinator, and Coach. 


  • Admission Information

    Applicants for the MSAA program submit the following:

    • Graduate International Application for Admission

    • Documentation of language fluency for non-native speakers of English such as a score report from TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo

    • Students applying for residency and an F1 visa must provide a copy of their current passport. 

    • Provide official transcripts of all attempted credit from previously attended colleges and universities (transcripts from schools outside of the US need to be evaluated from WES, ECE, IERF, EP, or InCred

    • Provide Statement of Goals and Objectives 

    • Complete a signed curriculum contract 


  • Curriculum Summary

    Graduate Business Core

    BUAD 500 Managerial and Leadership Analysis

    This course gives attention to the knowledge and skills needed to grow and sustain performance in an organization, whether a full company, department, division, or other strategic business unit within an existing organization by getting the right things done through teams of people. It addresses the common management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.


    BUAD 600 Organizational Behavior and Teamwork

    This course responds to the increasing need for cooperative skills in concurrent design and engineering projects, interdepartmental committees, quality circles, self-managed work teams, and relationship selling. Self-awareness is the foundation of group dynamics. Areas to be covered include individual differences; personality; emotional intelligence; learning; ethics; decision making; and motivation. Group dynamics is understood to be a pillar of organizational success. Areas covered include communication; group dynamics; leadership; trust; power; and change. Both experiential and theoretical approaches are used to deepen understanding.


    BUAD 650 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

    A study of selected contributions in political theory and how they contribute to an analysis of public policy on the role of ethical implications of administrative activity and provides a theoretical framework within which responsible decisions can be made. It relates the ethical considerations and legal principles to the organization’s responsibility to society.


    BUAD 665 Strategic Decisions 

    Effective organizations strategically design their mission, vision, structure, and operations to anticipate and respond to external threats, opportunities, and conditions. This course explains how organizations formulate, implement, and evaluate strategies that help ensure their sustainability and profitability. Students are required to present an oral and written case study relating to a pre- sent Fortune 500 company describing the past, present, and future organizational challenges and to recommend effective, productive actions along with an action plan for implementation.


    MSAA Core

    SPMT 500 Research Methods

    This course in research methods prepares the student to understand issues associated with but not limited to the logic of the scientific method, research design, and qualitative and statistical analysis of data. Students will be afforded the opportunity to conduct research in the course on topics.


    SPMT 510 Administration of Athletics

    This course addresses leadership qualities, management styles, planning, policies, and problems of organization and administration of athletic programs and colleges. This course will discuss current issues and events in college athletics.


    SPMT 520 Sports & Athletic Promotions 

    This course presents an overview of the various techniques and strategies used in meeting the wants and needs of consumers in the sport industry as well as understanding how sport can be used to assist in the marketing of other companies and products. 


    SPMT 530 Contemporary Issues in Sports

    This course examines the relationship between sport, both professional and amateur, and society. Students apply critical thinking skills to analyze current sport-related controversies and gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between sports and global social issues such as gender, ethnicity, social class, economics, politics, and mass media. 


    SPMT 571 Fiscal Practices in Athletic Administration 

    An analysis of financial and economic aspects of professional and collegiate sports. This course will cover such issues as forms of ownership, formulation and development of operating budgets, financial forecasting, taxation, revenue production, risk, economic impact studies, financial planning for sports organizations and professional athletes and the economic impact of unions in professional sports.


    SPMT 594 Special Topics in Sport & Athletic Administration 

    Course topics to include Sports Media and Communications; Sports and Athletic Promotions; Facility Design and Event Management; and Sports and Society.  


    SPMT 696 Athletic Administration Internship 

    Supervised sports management experience in a related setting. This course may be taken as a substitute for any one of the SPMT Core classes listed above.

CONCENTRATION

Students may elect to add a concentration to their MSAA degree program.  These optional 12 credit hours enhance your graduate degree and will add a level of distinction to your resume. 

  • Computer Science Application


    The program includes four courses covering specific computer science applications in healthcare, construction, and development. The courses will cover techniques, tools, and technology used for improving business decisions through cloud-based tech, machine learning, and deep learning.


    Students pursue Computer Science Application education for employment in the Computer Science industry.  Target Industries include information systems, healthcare, construction, and development.


    Computer Scientists earn an annual average salary of $131k. Job growth in Computer Science is expected to grow by 21% over the next decade, adding over 31,000 US jobs each year. 


    CSA 610 Computer Science Application

    This graduate level course provides an introduction to computer science applications.  Topics focus on techniques, tools, and applications in computer science for improving business decisions. 


    CSA 620 Current Emerging Technology

    This graduate level course focuses on Cloud Technologies, DevOps, serverless computing, machine learning, and deep learning. Topics include emerging technologies in the discipline of computer science applications.


    CSA 630 Business Analysis for Computer Science Applications

    This graduate level course focuses on the art of eliciting requirements from users and subject matter experts. The Business Analyst will develop clear and unambiguous requirements to support the development model proposed by the team. Requirements will serve as input for the development lifecycle for methodologies such as Kanban, Agile, or Waterfall.


    CSA 640 Data Modeling, Warehousing, and Database Management

    This graduate level course focuses on the design and management of the construction of databases, related software programs, and applications. Topics include, but are not limited to, the linkage and correlation with data warehousing, data mining, database theory, data modeling, and technical architecture.

  • Information Systems Data Science


    The program includes four courses that will provide students with a strong foundation in information systems data science, preparing them for employment in the data science industry. They will learn practical skills such as data visualization, data mining, and artificial intelligence, as well as innovative strategies to improve business processes.


    Students pursue Information Systems Data Science education for employment in the Data Science industry.  Target Industries include information systems, healthcare, construction, and development.Data Scientists earn an annual average salary between 68k and $135k. Job growth in Data Science is expected to grow by 20% over the next decade, adding over 350,000 US jobs each year.

     

    ISDS 610 Data Visualization and Communication 

    This graduate level course provides an introduction to data visualization theories, techniques, and tools for analyzing business data and improving business decisions. 


    ISDS 620 Data Mining and Warehousing 

    This graduate level course introduces a broad set of practical data analytic skills based on data discovery, cleansing, building real analytic applications on real data. These skills include accessing and transferring data, applying various analytical frameworks always keeping business goals in mind. 


    ISDS 630 Design Thinking 

    This graduate level course focuses on products, services, user experiences, architectures, and innovative strategies to improve business processes. The course covers the design thinking methodology providing solutions approach to solving complex problems, using the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test). 


    ISDS 640 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence 

    This graduate level course introduces students to analytical technologies and the fundamental methods, techniques, and software used to design and develop systems. This course is focused on analytics and its enabling technologies, including AI, machine-learning, robotics, and chatbots.


  • Information Systems Project Management

    The program is designed to provide students with a specialized education that prepares them to pursue employment in the project management industry. By the end of the program, students will have developed skills in cost-benefit analysis, project selection, stakeholder identification, resource planning, quality management, risk management, and project team leadership, among other competencies.


    Students pursue Information Systems Project Management education for employment in the project management industry.  Target Industries include information systems, healthcare, construction, and development.


    IS Project Managers earn an annual average salary of $105k. The project management industry exceeds $4 trillion in annual revenue and is expected to grow by 30% over the next decade, adding over 200,000 US jobs each year. 


    ISPM 610 IS Project Initiation

    This graduate level course provides an introduction to information systems project management with specific attention to cost-benefit analysis, business case development, project selection, stakeholder identification, risk identification and the project charter.


    ISPM 620 IS Project Planning

    This graduate level course examines topics in information systems project management with specific attention to the work breakdown structure, resource planning, organizational charts in project planning, and the elements of project planning, communications planning, procurement planning, quality management planning, change management planning and risk management planning.


    ISPM 630 IS Project Execution

    This graduate level course examines topics in information systems project management with specific attention to obtaining and managing project resources, executing tasks in the project plan, implementing the quality management plan, change management, risk management, and leading the project team.


    ISPM 640 IS Project Monitoring and Controlling

    This graduate level course examines topics in information systems project management with specific attention to performance measurements, project control and performance metrics, cost analysis and variance trend techniques, risk identification and analysis.


Gather your supporting documents and visit our Graduate International Application for Admission to begin your educational journey at Union College.


Contact Us


Graduate International Admissions

Phone: (606) 546-1620


Union College

310 College Street

Barbourville, KY 40906



gradonline@unionky.edu

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