Sport Management (Ph.D.) Curriculum & Admission Requirements

Program Structure

Coursework

Doctoral students at KU have numerous options to complete their coursework. The course plan is completely customizable with guidance from the doctoral advisor. Students are encouraged to craft their plan to fit their needs and prepare them for their ultimate career goal after graduation with a doctoral degree.

Teaching requirement

A college teaching experience is no longer required but is highly recommended for students who are not GTAs but who are interested in pursuing a faculty position.

Residency requirement

Students must complete nine credit hours of graduate level coursework over two consecutive semesters (fall/spring), unless they hold an assistantship. If serving as a graduate assistant, only six credit hours of graduate level coursework are required over the two semesters. During this period the student is to be involved in full-time academic pursuits. This residency requirement must be fulfilled before comprehensive examinations can take place.

Comprehensive examination

Upon completion of all coursework, the student is eligible for the comprehensive examination. The majority of students choose to complete a manuscript around a topic of interest and orally defend their work to a committee made up of departmental, school, and/or university faculty.

Dissertation

After successful completion of the comprehensive exam, the doctoral candidate will work closely with their advisor to develop a topic that will provide a substantial contribution to the field. Examples include: ethnography of the culture of a college football team, a scale to measure organizational identification in sport employees, and interviews with small college athletics administrators on the role sport plays in their university.

Field Experience

A wide-range of opportunities exist for doctoral students to engage with the community through research. Students are encouraged to enroll in independent study research courses to connect the theory they learn in classes with the practices in the field. Previous doctoral students have collected data from universities and sport organizations across the country.

Program Curriculum

HSES 996: College Teaching Experience
HSES 998: Doctoral Seminar
HSES 999: Doctoral Dissertation
EPSY 715: Understanding Research in Education

Major Courses (36 credit hours)
Research Courses (12 credit hours)

Graduate Admission Requirements

Applicants must have a master’s degree with a grade point average of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale from a regionally accredited institution or a foreign university with substantially equivalent bachelor’s degree requirements. International applicants are strongly encourage to complete the application process well in advance of the application deadlines, in order to ensure adequate time for processing of visa related paperwork. Meeting minimum admission standards does not guarantee admission to the program. Applicants must have a faculty advisor that is willing to work with them for their application to be processed. Therefore, applicants are strongly advised to contact one (or more) of the faculty members in the department prior to applying for the doctoral program.

Application deadlines

Dec. 1, 2024

Spring semester deadline

Mar. 3, 2025

Summer semester deadline

July 1, 2025

Fall semester priority deadline

Aug. 1, 2025

Fall semester final deadline

Application Checklist

Ph.D. in Sport Management

Applicants are required to submit the following materials and meet the following requirements before the application deadline:

Admission & Curriculum Resources

The online application is designed to give you the ability to submit all supporting documents in one form. We invite you to explore our graduate degree information, review our student resources, and learn more on our knowledgeable faculty and the vibrant community of Lawrence, Kansas.

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