Dr. Bernie Kish, PhD
School of Education and Human Sciences - Health, Sport, & Exercise SciencesDr. Bernie Kish is a Lecturer in Sport Management in the School of Education at the University of Kansas. Prior to this appointment in the Fall of 2005, he served as the first Executive Director of the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana for ten years. He also worked in the University of Kansas Athletics Department from 1992 until 1995.
A career military officer, he served in the US Army for over 29 years, completing his service as a Full Colonel. His service included tours in Vietnam and Cambodia plus two four year tours in the Federal Republic of Germany as well as several stateside assignments.
Dr. Kish is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Master's Degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a Doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Kansas. Dr. Kish and his wife Judy make their home in Lawrence. They have two daughters, Keri, an attorney in Kansas City, Missouri and Kathryn Hayman, a public relations and marketing director in Beverly Hills, California and a grandson Theodore Hayman.
Teaching
Dr. Kish teaches courses in Sport Management including Personnel Management in Sport, Sport Ethics, Sport Facilities and Event Management and beginning in the Fall of 2019, the History and Tradition of Kansas Athletics at the undergraduate level. At the Graduate Level, his classes include Sport Facilities, Sport Ethics and the History and Tradition of Kansas Athletics .
Courses:
HSES 382: Sport Facilities and Event Management
HSES 487: Personnel Management in Sport
HSES 598: History and Tradition of Kansas Athletics
HSES 801 Sport Facilities
HSES 831: Sport Ethics
HSES 798: History and Tradition of Kansas Athletics
Teaching Interests
- Personnel Management
- Sport Ethics
- Sport Facilities
- Events Management
- History and Tradition
- Sport Management
Research
Dr Kish's areas of research interest include but are not limited to: the History and Tradition of Kansas Athletics; Notre Dame's legendary football coach Knute Rockne (his career and very specifically his connections to the state of Kansas); the History of Notre Dame football; the Military Career of President Harry S Truman; the 1936 Summer Olympic Games (specifically, the links with the Kansas athletes and coaches to the Games).
Research Interests
- Kansas Athletics
- Notre Dame Football
- Coach Knute Rockne
- Harry S. Truman
- 1936 Olympic Games
Service
Dr. Kish is committed to service to the University of Kansas and the city of Lawrence. He co-founded and developed the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast--an event that in 2020 will celebrate its 13th Anniversary. He is an active member of the Jayhawk Breakfast Rotary Club, the Jayhawk Chapter of the Military Officers of America Association and the Sunflower Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. In 2019 successfully petitioned the Kansas Turnpike Authority and led the drive to fund the establishment of a Knute Rockne Memorial at the Matfield Green Reststop on the Turnpike.
Selected Presentations
Selected Awards & Honors
Department of HSES, University of Kansas
2010
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
2004
2002
