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Katherine Walden

Director, Sport, Media, and Culture Minor and Associate Teaching Professor of American Studies

Katherine Walden

Director, Sport, Media, and Culture Minor and Associate Teaching Professor of American Studies

kwalden@nd.edu
Website
310D O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
Katherine Walden received a Ph.D. in American Studies-Sport Studies at the University of Iowa, where she also earned M.A. in Library and Information Science, with a Certificate in Public Digital Humanities. Walden earned a B.M. in Musical Arts from Vanderbilt University.

Her research and teaching looks at the intersection of sport and culture, with a focus on professional baseball labor. She is currently working on a monograph project that outlines an alternative history for professional baseball labor through focusing on Minor League Baseball players and teams. Her research uses data analysis, visualization, and interactive digital mapping to illustrate the scale and scope of Minor League Baseball labor, as well as the historical forces and labor structures that shape Minor League players’ working conditions. She is also involved in outreach and advocacy work lobbying for improved working conditions for Minor League players.

An emerging area of research specialization for Walden is critical approaches to sport data and the cultural politics of sport data.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30102 - Baseball and America

SMAC 30105 - Sport and Big Data

SMAC 30109 - Football in America

Research and Teaching Interests

Digital Humanities, Public Humanities, Archives, Sport and American Culture (labor politics, race and ethnicity, gender, community identity, sport fan communities, sport data and analytics), Critical Approaches to Data
Christine Becker

Internship Coordinator and Associate Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre

Christine Becker

Internship Coordinator and Associate Professor of Film, Television, and Theatre

cbecker1@nd.edu
230D DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

Biography
Christine Becker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame specializing in film and television history, critical and formal analysis, and media industry studies. Recent courses taught include Sports & Television, Media Industries, History of Television, and Media Stardom and Celebrity Culture. Her research focuses on the British and American television industries and issues of cultural taste, as well as on the interrelation of industry practices, production methods, and aesthetic conventions. She also co-hosts and co-produces the Aca-Media podcast sponsored by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, as well as the Presenting the Past podcast for the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30701 - Business and Culture of Sports TV

SMAC 30702 - Media Industries

Research and Teaching Interests
Sports TV industry, sports TV production and aesthetics, celebrity and stardom, athletic cultural identity and representation

Affiliated Faculty

James Biddick

Student-Athlete Career Development Program Manager

James Biddick

Student-Athlete Career Development Program Manager

jbiddick@nd.edu
W504 Duncan Student Center

Biography
After completing his LLB (Honors) from the University of Canterbury and Bachelor of Social Science from Lincoln University, Biddick began his professional career in the field of law. Originally from New Zealand, James spent three years as an attorney with New Zealand’s leading corporate law firm, Russell McVeagh before deciding to pursue a different career path.

Previously a student-athlete in field hockey and cricket, Biddick represented New Zealand in Field Hockey. In addition, he also spent many years dedicated to coaching field hockey across the world.

Biddick focused his passions in athletics towards earning a Master’s in Sports Administration from Ohio University. Through the program, he had the opportunity to work as a graduate assistant for the College of Business Office of Career Management. After graduating, Biddick served as the Assistant Director, then Associate Director of Graduate Career Management and Sport Management for Ohio University.

In his current position with the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development, James is responsible for helping guide student-athletes throughout their career discernment process. Biddick also helps students interested in the sports industry and has taught Introduction to Sport Management (MGTO20200) and acts as staff support to the on-campus student-led organization Sport Management Association.

Research and Teaching Interests
Student-Athlete Development
Ashlee Bird

Assistant Professor, American Studies

Ashlee Bird

Assistant Professor, American Studies

abird3@nd.edu
310N O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
Ashlee Bird is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame and a Native American game designer. She is Western Abenaki, originally from Vermont’s Champlain Valley, and teaches courses on gaming and play. Her research covers Native American representation, visual sovereignty and decolonial media, and digital media and popular culture. Her first book project, tentatively titled Red Dead Redemption, examines how video games portray Native characters and argues for decolonial approaches to game design. Her original games One Small Step and Full of Birds were featured at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Festival in 2018 and 2019.
Gregory Bond

Library Faculty, Curator Joyce Sports Research Collection, Sports Archivist

Gregory Bond

Library Faculty, Curator Joyce Sports Research Collection, Sports Archivist

gbond2@nd.edu
P: +1 574-631-1952
148 Hesburgh Library

Biography
Greg Bond is a member of the Library Faculty at Hesburgh Libraries. He serves as the Curator of the Joyce Sports Research Collection and the Sports Archivist. He has appointments at both Rare Books and Special Collections and at the University of Notre Dame Archives.

He received his PhD in American History from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an MLS with concentrations in Archives and in Digital Libraries from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research interests include the cultural history of sports, the history of race and sports, the history of African Americans and sports, and the history of gender and sports. He is currently working on several research projects about the history of African American athletes at predominantly white colleges and universities. His research and writing has appeared in scholarly journals and in popular publications.

He has experience with a variety of historical/archival methods including oral history projects, digital library projects, and public history projects. He encourages incorporating and including the Hesburgh Libraries’ unparalleled sports archival collections in the classroom. He is also interested in understanding and addressing the gaps and silences in the archives that have often resulted from the lack of attention to and documentation of the experiences of marginalized or traditionally underrepresented people and communities.

Research and Teaching Interests
Cultural History of Sports, Sports and Race, History of African Americans in Sports, Sports and Gender, Sports and the Archive
Clinton Carlson

Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design

Clinton Carlson

Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design

ccarlso6@nd.edu
210A West Lake Hall

Biography
Clinton Carlson is a designer, educator, and researcher that explores the use of community-activated design methods at two scales: at the micro-community scale his work explores how design can better serve in the communication of and advocacy for improved health and wellbeing; at the macro-community scale his work looks at how communities can take an active role in defining and designing future large-scale public systems. As a researcher, Clinton has worked on projects that address underserved public interest issues such as: social safety nets, restorative justice, food recalls, student loans, teacher development, Dengue fever, suicide, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases. His work on these topics has been disseminated internationally through presentations, journal articles, and book chapters. His current research includes the project Foundry Field. Foundry Field utilizes sports, art, and design to empower local community activists in creating greater dialogue about race, access, and representation. The project centers around historically underrepresented sports teams/stories that showed resilience and strength in the face of inequalities and prejudice.

Courses Taught

Brand Identity, Interaction Design, Community-Activated Design

Research and Teaching Interests
Design, community, brand/identity, co-creation, advocacy
Andrea Christensen

Associate Teaching Professor, Inst for Educational Initiatives

Andrea Christensen

Associate Teaching Professor, Inst for Educational Initiatives

achrist1@nd.edu
P: +1 574-631-3054
206R Carole Sandner Hall

Biography
Andrea Christensen is Director of Education, Schooling, and Society (ESS) and Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, where she teaches core courses and electives in both ESS and psychology. A former schoolteacher, she studies effective teaching and the classroom practices that support students’ motivation to learn. She founded RECESS Matters (ESS 23510), a community-engaged course in which Notre Dame students coach recess at South Bend elementary schools while studying the developmental role of play and the factors that shape children’s access to it. She received the 2021 Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the 2019 Arthur Quigley, Ph.D. Award for her service to South Bend’s Northeast neighborhood.
Annie Coleman

Associate Professor of American Studies

Annie Coleman

Associate Professor of American Studies

acolema3@nd.edu
310G O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
I am a member of the American Studies Association’s Sports Studies Caucus and had the pleasure of founding Notre Dame’s minor in Sport, Media, and Culture. My research focuses on the cultural and environmental history of outdoor sports and recreation, and the relationships of identity and power that support the outdoor recreation industry. In my past life, I played D3 collegiate soccer and skied moguls for the U.S. Now I teach courses on Wilderness, Sports, and national parks as well as 20th c history, and chair the Department of American Studies. Early publications include “The Unbearable Whiteness of Skiing” (Pacific Historical Review, 1994) and the book Ski Style: Sport and Culture in the Rockies (Kansas, 2004). More recent articles include “River Rats in the Archive: Nature, Texts, and a Moving History of the Colorado” (in Rendering Nature, 2015) and “Shredding Mountain Lines: GoPro, Mobility, and the Spatial Politics of Outdoor Sports” (in The American Environment Revisited, 2018). My second book, Getting Into the Outdoors: An American History of Professional Guides, will be published by Oxford University Press.

Courses Taught

Sports and American Culture

Sports and Environment

Sports and Recreation Senior Seminar

Research and Teaching Interests
outdoor sports, sports and the environment, national parks
Luca Grillo

Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Collegiate Professor of Classics

Luca Grillo

Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Collegiate Professor of Classics

lgrillo@nd.edu
253AA O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
I regularly teach a course on Greek and Roman athletics, which draws from literary and archaeological evidence. I use some comparative material from modern sport. I am publishing some work on gladiators and chariot races in the Roman empire.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30304 - Ancient Sport and Society

Research and Teaching Interests
Latin language and literature, ancient sport and society, ancient rhetoric and historiography, classical oratory
Eric Haanstad

Professor of the Practice, Anthropology

Eric Haanstad

Professor of the Practice, Anthropology

Anthropology

ehaansta@nd.edu
P: +1 574-631-2308
E296A Corbett Family Hall

Biography
Eric Haanstad began exploring anthropology at the University of Minnesota where he studied Anishinaabe Ojibwe (Chippewa) languages and cultures in American Indian Studies. He received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in August of 2008 and since then taught and conducted research in Cambodia, Thailand, Germany, and the U.S. Seacoast. His book, To Protect and Suppress in the Year of the Thai Police, focusing on his research with the Royal Thai Police is currently published by White Lotus books in Thailand. In addition to his work on state security, he studies music production, symbolic expression, and theatrical performance in Southeast Asia. Eric’s current ethnographic projects explore future imaginaries in martial arts, design anthropology, and his ongoing musical and theatrical collaborations with Ramayana-based masked theater performers in Thailand and Cambodia.

Courses Taught

ANTH 10381 - University Seminar: Martial Arts and Global Media
SMAC 30601 - Martial Arts and Global Media

Research and Teaching Interests
Police, media, temporality, violence, martial arts, theater, performative ethnography, design anthropology, symbology, Thailand, Cambodia, Southeast Asia.

Full Profile
Alex Holznienkemper

Director of Undergraduate Studies (German)

Alex Holznienkemper

Director of Undergraduate Studies (German)

aholznie@nd.edu

Biography
Alex Holznienkemper is Director of Undergraduate Studies for German in the Department of German, Slavic, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Notre Dame. His research and teaching focus on the ethics and aesthetics of sports, social and critical theory, Heinrich von Kleist, and the history of incarceration. German and European soccer culture has been a central part of his teaching at Notre Dame, in courses ranging from advanced German language to a general education class on global soccer culture. He has published on fan culture and identity in German soccer in Colloquia Germanica and in the edited volume Football Nation (Berghahn, 2022), and he is now writing on Hannah Arendt’s theory of action in relation to sports and religion.
Jennifer Huynh

Assistant Professor, American Studies

Jennifer Huynh

Assistant Professor, American Studies

jhuynh1@nd.edu
310F O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
I am an interdisciplinary scholar but trained as a sociologist interested in inequality, immigration, race, and representation. My course Asian American Experience provides students with projects related to Asian American sporting cultures, including analyzing celebrity coverage of Linsanity, Mantei Te'o, and Manny Pacquiao. We will broadly cover Asian American sports historically and problematize stereotypes like the model minority myth, orientalism, and gendered stereotypes connected with rising anti-Asian hate.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30108 - Asian American Experience

Research and Teaching Interests
Teaching: Asian American Representation; Asian Americans Sporting Cultures; Transnationalism & Asian American Sports
Jason Kelly

Director, Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy; Associate Editor - Notre Dame Magazine

Jason Kelly

Director, Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy; Associate Editor - Notre Dame Magazine

jkelly30@nd.edu
504A Grace Hall

Biography
Jason Kelly is the Director of the Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy. He spent 14 years as a sports reporter, columnist and editor at the South Bend Tribune, and is the author of two books, Mr. Notre Dame: The Life and Legend of Edward "Moose" Krause and Shelby's Folly: Jack Dempsey, Doc Kearns, and the Shakedown of a Montana Boomtown.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30104 - Sports Media Newsroom

Research and Teaching Interests
intersection of sport & politics; Olympics; Cold War era
Sandy Koufax

SMAC Mascot and Therapy Dog

Sandy Koufax

SMAC Mascot and Therapy Dog

kwalden@nd.edu
100 O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
Sandy makes occasional visits to select SMAC classes (Baseball and America, Football in America, and Sport and Big Data) and when otherwise on campus can typically be found collecting smells and barking at squirrels

Research and Teaching Interests
Chasing squirrels, belly rubs/head scritches, dumpster diving/scrounging for food
Eugene Lee

Adjunct Assistant Professor of American Studies

Eugene Lee

Adjunct Assistant Professor of American Studies

elee28@nd.edu
403 Mckenna Hall

Biography
Eugene Lee serves as CEO and Managing Director of 3 Strand Sports & Entertainment, a sports management, consulting, and creative agency based out of Nashville, TN. He currently represents NFL players, executives, and coaches and produces a variety of unscripted and scripted content for national brands and digital distribution platforms. With over twenty-five years of experience as an NFLPA certified contract advisor, Eugene has gained significant experience in, and intricate knowledge of, business development, marketing, industry networking, organizational training, and leadership. Eugene was featured in the ESPN documentary “The Dotted Line” and is the author of “My Brother’s Keeper: Above and Beyond The Dotted Line with the NFL’s Most Ethical Agent.” He has appeared on FOX, CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg as an industry expert on NFL player contracts, the salary cap, and athlete branding. Eugene is a believer in the immeasurable value of genuine, open-handed relationships and paying it forward to the next generation. He has spoken at various universities and law schools nationwide, including the University of Notre Dame, where Mr. Lee earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree, summa cum laude, in Accountancy and Juris Doctor degree as a member of Beta Alpha Psi and Beta Gamma Sigma.

Courses Taught

SMAC 20402 - Inside the NFL: Agent, Team, and Everything in Between

Research and Teaching Interests
Deconstruction of the NFL Ecosystem
Brian Levey

Teaching Professor, Mendoza College of Business

Brian Levey

Teaching Professor, Mendoza College of Business

blevey@nd.edu
P: +1 574-631-3560
229 Mendoza College of Business

Biography
I joined the Mendoza College of Business faculty in 2007 after a twenty year legal career, most recently focused on building corporate ethics and compliance programs, most notably after accounting scandals at WorldCom and Fannie Mae. During my time at Mendoza, I’ve taught the introductory undergraduate Business Law course, as well as several ethics classes in the undergraduate, graduate and executive programs including Introduction to Business Ethics, Ethics in Accounting, Ethics in Sports and Fraud on Film. Along the way, I’ve served as a faculty fellow for both the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership and the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning. My relatively diverse teaching and research interests lie at the intersection of business, law, ethics, sports and film. And so my publications range from topics like "Using Film Clips in Business Law: Something Old, Something New?" to “Visa and FIFA: Everywhere You Want To Be?”. With respect the SMAC minor, I’m particularly interested in using sports to encourage students to think critically about ethical dilemmas, whether in sports, business or life.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30201 - 30720 Ethics in Sports

Research and Teaching Interests
Sports ethics, especially as an opportunity to encourage individuals and organizations to examine their core values to guide their conduct
Keona Lewis

Assistant Professor of the Practice, Institute for Social Concerns

Keona Lewis

Assistant Professor of the Practice, Institute for Social Concerns

klewis22@nd.edu
303C Main Building

Biography
Keona Lewis is Assistant Provost at the University of Notre Dame and Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Institute for Social Concerns. Her research covers higher education, the African diaspora, ethnicity, gender, and educational outcomes, and she has led training programs on topics including conscious and unconscious bias and microaggressions. She teaches a course on the social and cultural dimensions of sport that looks at how race and identity shape who participates in sport, who has access, and how people engage with it. Before coming to Notre Dame, she was associate director of research and evaluation for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she developed and evaluated programs for faculty, staff, and students and co-chaired the Georgia Tech Police Department Community Council.
John Lubker

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Graduate school

John Lubker

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Graduate school

jlubker1@nd.edu
115M Main Building

Biography
John’s research focuses on both professional issues in sport and exercise psychology and leadership training. His academic record includes authorship or co-authorship of 13 articles, 4 book chapters, 36 international and national presentations relating to his research interests, and over $850,000 in grant funding. He teaches PSY 33365 – Sport Psychology in the Department of Psychology. Throughout his academic training and employment, John has continually consulted with athletes of all levels, assisting them with the mental side of sport and to reach their athletic potential.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30501 - Sport Psychology

Research and Teaching Interests
Leadership, Sport Psychology, Exercise Psychology
Joshua Lund

Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures

Joshua Lund

Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures

jlund2@nd.edu
P: +1 574-631-8119
369 Decio Faculty Hall

Biography
Joshua Lund is Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches literature, film, and cultural history. His courses include Fút(e)bol: A Cultural History, which explores soccer through literature, journalism, scholarship, and film. His books include Werner Herzog: American Nomadic (2020), The Mestizo State: Writing Race in Modern Mexico (2012; Spanish translation, El estado mestizo, 2017), and The Impure Imagination (2006). His current work explores the idea of work, the aesthetics of political violence, transnational film, and the links between capitalist expansion and narrative in Latin America. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College.
Michael Macaluso

Associate Teaching Professor

Michael Macaluso

Associate Teaching Professor

mmacalus@nd.edu
P: +1 574-631-8236
3157 Eddy Street Commons

Biography
Dr. Michael Macaluso is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Alliance for Catholic Education and the Institute for Educational Initiatives. He also serves on the leadership teams for the Center for Literacy Education and the Education, Schooling, & Society undergraduate program. Macaluso's scholarship focuses on issues of teaching and learning in English classrooms, particularly around young adult literature and the relationships across literature, culture and representation, and literary instruction. He serves as chair of the Alexandria Award Committee, a new initiative aimed at fostering students' literacy and faith development through the advancement of contemporary literature.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30903 - Issues of Diversity in Young Adult Literature

ESS 33638 - Public Pedagogies

Research and Teaching Interests
Literature and Culture; Education; Issues connected to Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning
Nicholas Mainieri

Student-Athlete Transition Program Director and Adjunct Assistant Professor of American Studies

Nicholas Mainieri

Student-Athlete Transition Program Director and Adjunct Assistant Professor of American Studies

nmainier@nd.edu
110F Coleman-Morse Center

Biography
As a freelance writer, my nonfiction often focuses on narratives in sport. I am also the author of a novel, The Infinite, and my short stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines. My primary role on campus is Transition Program Director in Academic Services for Student-Athletes, where I work primarily with first-year student-athletes. I studied English as an undergraduate at Notre Dame, where I also played baseball (BA, 2006). I briefly worked in college football before relocating to New Orleans, where I studied creative writing at the University of New Orleans (MFA, 2011). Prior to returning to Notre Dame, I served as assistant professor and novelist-in-residence at Nicholls State University, where I taught writing and literature courses, and as an instructor in graduate writing programs at the University of New Orleans.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30107 - Storytelling & Sport

Research and Teaching Interests
Sport, Games, Play, Literature, Writing
Ted Mandell

Associate Teaching Professor, Film, Television, and Theatre

Ted Mandell

Associate Teaching Professor, Film, Television, and Theatre

tmandell@nd.edu
B035 Debartolo Performing Arts Center

Biography
Ted Mandell has taught film production at Notre Dame for the past 33 years. Specializing in documentary filmmaking, and producer/director of numerous features on Notre Dame Athletics for und.com, Ted is co-director of the documentary 88 and 1 (ESPN2), the award winning documentary Okuyamba, and producer of the documentary series First Time Fans. Ted is also in charge of the annual Notre Dame Student Film Festival, founder of the Force For Good Film Festival for High School Students, and director of the Summer Scholars Film Track for high school students. He has penned numerous national op-ed columns on media and popular culture and is the author of the multimedia book Heart Stoppers and Hail Marys: The Greatest College Football Finishes (Since 1970).

Courses Taught

SMAC 30703 - Televised Sports Production
Cara Ocobock

Associate Professor of Anthropology

Cara Ocobock

Associate Professor of Anthropology

cocobock@nd.edu
E256 Corbett Family Hall

Biography
I am a human biologist who explores the physiological and behavioral mechanisms necessary to cope with and adapt to extreme climates and high levels of physical activity. My work has taken me from the Rocky Mountains to the Arctic Circle where I have worked with outdoor enthusiasts, runners taking part in a cross-country foot race, and reindeer herders in Finland. I am an avid powerlifter who loves bringing anthropology to sport and sport to anthropology. I have also organized and participated in numerous science outreach efforts including the Human Biology Association Podcast, the Sausage of Science.

Courses Taught

Blood, Guts, and Glory: Anthropology of Sports

SMAC 30605 - Exercise Physiology

Research and Teaching Interests
Human physiology, exercise physiology, anthropology of sports
Matthew Payne

Professor, Film, Television, and Theatre

Matthew Payne

Professor, Film, Television, and Theatre

mpayne8@nd.edu
210 Debartolo Performing Arts Center

Biography
Matthew Thomas Payne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame. Matthew has taught a range of media studies and film/video production courses at the university level, and he has conducted industry research for Warner Brothers. He is currently working on a book project that historicizes the influence of Ultima, an early computer role-playing game. Matthew also serves as a regional director for the Learning Games Initiative, a multi-institute research collective dedicated to archiving games and gaming ephemera, and to distributing these materials to educators for classroom instruction. He adores Ms. Pac-Man and is irrationally terrified of Midwestern winters.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30704 - Play Like a Champion Today

Research and Teaching Interests
Cultural History of Video Games, Video Essays, Media & War, Media Literacy, Play Theory
Davin Raiha

Associate Teaching Professor, Economics

Davin Raiha

Associate Teaching Professor, Economics

draiha@nd.edu
3060B Jenkins And Nanovic Halls

Biography
Davin Raiha is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Economics, and the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, he taught at the University of Western Ontario and Indiana University. Davin teaches an upper-year economics elective in Sports Economics. He also has research interests in sports public policy -- in particular, the public finance of sports -- as well as sports analytics and the application of game theory in sports.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30603 - Sports Economics

Research and Teaching Interests
Public Economics, Sports Economics, Sports Strategy, Sports Analytics
Nia Robinson

College of Science Asst Dir, Career Center

Nia Robinson

College of Science Asst Dir, Career Center

nrobins3@nd.edu
P: +1 574-631-3243
W504D Duncan Student Center

Biography
Nia Robinson is the Assistant Director for Career Development in the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, where she helps students discover their purpose and passion and translate them into meaningful careers. She works with students on résumés, choosing majors and minors, career discernment, interview preparation, mock interviews, and evaluating job offers. Before joining Notre Dame, Nia worked in college athletics in football recruiting, academic advising, and student-athlete development. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sport management from Ohio University (2017) and a master’s in sport administration from the University of Cincinnati (2023).
Betsy Ross

Betsy Ross

bross6@nd.edu
310G O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
Betsy M. Ross is an Emmy® award-winning sports reporter as well as founder and president of Game Day Communications, based in Cincinnati. Ross was one of the first women to break into national sports news, working as an anchor at ESPN for five years after a seven-year stint at NBC News Channel and Cincinnati’s NBC affiliate, WLWT‐TV, where she covered the 1996 Presidential Election and Inauguration and the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and Olympic trials. She continues to be involved in sports broadcasting for ESPN, Fox Sports, and other national and regional outlets, and authored the book Playing Ball with the Boys: The Rise of Women in Men’s Sports in 2010. She is also part of Junglevision’s crew during Cincinnati Bengals’ home games and handles the public address announcing for University of Cincinnati women’s basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. This spring she will be sharing her expertise with students by instructing a new SMAC and Journalism course called Game Day Media.
Pyar Seth

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies

Pyar Seth

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies

pseth@nd.edu
303 O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
Pyar Seth is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Notre Dame. For the SMAC minor, his teaching and research focuses on how medical technologies and biometric analyses reenact and adhere racial categories to (athletic) bodies. He is also interested in performance as methodology, examining how embodied movement can serve as a mode to theorize culture, state power, and transnational processes of racialization.

Courses Taught

SMAC 30502 - Hip Hop Public Health

SMAC 30802 - Huey's Healthcare: Humor and Healing in The Boondocks

Research and Teaching Interests
Creative Practice, Embodiment, Performance as Method, Semiotics and Its Discontents
John Soares

Adjunct Assistant Professor of History

John Soares

Adjunct Assistant Professor of History

jsoares@nd.edu
219 O'Shaughnessy Hall

Biography
Soares' teaching and research interests include the intersection of sport and politics, particularly focused on ice hockey during the Cold War. Among his recent publications are articles on international ice hockey and détente in the _International Journal of the History of Sport_; on hockey and US-Canadian relations in _Diplomatic History_; on 1970’s “baseball diplomacy” with Cuba in the _New England Journal of History_; on hockey, deindustrialization and film in _Aethlon_; and the competitive strengths of European amateur hockey during the Cold War in the _Notre Dame Journal of Comparative and International Law_. In addition, he wrote the theory and method chapter in the _The Routledge History of American Sport_.

Courses Taught

Sport in American History
SMAC 30302 - Sport, America and the World
SMAC 30303 - port and the Cold War

Research and Teaching Interests
intersection of sport & politics; Olympics; Cold War era