Story and photo by Logan Jackson
The University of Missouri Honors College will collaborate with Honors Colleges from nine Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities this fall on a course that will explore the changing landscape across collegiate athletics.
Through a combination of Zoom sessions with SEC partners and in-person, Mizzou-specific seminars, the course will explore the history and mission of NCAA athletics and recent legal settlements impacting college athletics and their effects on higher education, student athletes and college sports.
“This course will challenge students to examine collegiate athletics from different perspectives, including not only those of the various interests that combine to create an athletics program, but also the individual student-athlete opportunity and experience,” said Pam Bruzina, Mizzou’s faculty athletics representative to the SEC and NCAA, as well as a member of the NCCA Div. I Board of Directors. Bruzina is also a professor of nutrition and exercise physiology. “We are excited to have engagement from both national leaders in collegiate athletics as well as SEC and campus leaders and experts.”
Bruzina will co-teach the course with Catherine Rymph, dean of the Mizzou Honors College.
“This is a unique collaboration between SEC universities, and we are very excited for the opportunities that this course will provide our Honors College students,” Rymph said. “Whether they are avid sports fans or not, each student will learn about how large institutions function within shifting policy, legal and administrative climates.”
The idea for the course was born last year during the SEC Honors College Conference, hosted by the University of Arkansas. Leaders brainstormed ways to make the class as fulfilling as possible and found a perfect mix of collaboration and shared discussion. Students will hear from leaders and experts from a variety of athletics-related fields. They will also have the opportunity to learn more about the athletics culture within their respective university.
Participating universities include:
- Auburn University
- Louisiana State University
- Mississippi State University
- Texas A&M University
- The University of Alabama
- The University of Arkansas
- The University of Kentucky
- The University of Missouri
- The University of Oklahoma
- The University of South Carolina