Courtesy of the Athens News
Three students in Ohio University's sport management program have initiated and developed the nation's first sports management fraternity, Sigma Alpha Sigma Mu.
President Doug Vinci, Vice President Marcya Betts and Treasurer Dustin Boucher began researching for the fraternity last spring, which officially opened to the student body in January. Vinci said that between researching, finding a name that hasn't already been taken and working with OU Campus Involvement, the process took roughly 16 weeks. "Our mission is simply to assist the Department of Sports Administration in continuing to develop industry-ready sport professionals," he said.
Vinci said the fraternity has a professional and academic focus, offering benefits to fraternity members that can't necessarily be found in a classroom setting. "Professionally, the fraternity will offer interviewing workshops, tips on how to write resumes and cover letters for jobs and internships, as well as an etiquette dinner."
He added that the fraternity will also benefit students outside the fraternity. "Every other week we will have study tables staffed by sports management professors," he said. "This will benefit younger students by giving them an opportunity to meet a professor that they might have in a later class and network with faculty members. It's a win-win for all sports management students."
As a professional fraternity, there is no minimum membership requirement, but Vinci said they are interviewing about 15 applicants to join Sigma Alpha Sigma Mu. Applicants must be a sport management major and meet a minimum grade point average, at which point Vinci and co-founders will interview potential candidates.
Vinci foresees the fraternity eventually expanding to other schools with strong sport management programs, with the goal of eventually serving as a national chapter.
Those who missed the application process this quarter can jump in and apply this fall. Vinci encouraged younger students to apply.
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