Next fall, Oberlin will welcome a new integrative concentration: Sport Studies and Management. Integrative concentrations at Oberlin are academic programs designed to provide real-world experience and a more specific course of study to complement students’ majors. The Sport Studies and Management program will explore sports from perspectives of the humanities and natural and social science.
As with all new courses of study, Sport Studies and Management had to receive a series of faculty approvals. It was first approved by an ad-hoc curriculum committee, then the Educational Plans and Policies Committee, and then voted on by general faculty. The program cleared all steps of approval.
The new concentration will be chaired by the William G. Smith Associate Professor of Sociology and Comparative American Studies Alicia Smith-Tran, OC ’10, and Program Director for Community-Engaged Research and Learning & Lecturer Jo Line, OC ’11, who are both Oberlin Athletics alumni. Both Line and Smith-Tran said that ideas for this type of academic program had been percolating for some time, both because of conversations started by the Athletics department and a desire to cater more to student-athletes. Line, who has a doctorate in American culture studies where they focused on sports, was brought in toward the end of the ideation process to help helm the now-official concentration. They credited Head Track and Field Coach Ben Wach with leading the initial push for a sport studies program.
“It’s been a very organic development,” Line said.
The concentration will offer three paths for students to specialize in: Discourse, Communication, and Journalism; Business Management and Analytics; and Education, Health, and Performance.
“While students can narrow their focus through the tracks and electives that they choose, the breadth of possible courses that a student can take as part of this program is a strength and unique to our approach to studying sport,” Line wrote in an email to the Review.
This commitment to a multifaceted approach is also expressed by the Sport Studies and Management’s new page on the Oberlin College website. The new webpage references the plethora of sports teams in Northeast Ohio and the opportunities students will have through them.
According to both Line and Smith-Tran, interest in the new concentration is high. A Nov. 6 meeting in Wilder Hall was attended by around 30–35 students, according to Smith-Tran, and the Instagram post advertising the meeting received over 300 likes.
Smith-Tran described high faculty support throughout the process of creating the program. The two chairs have been working together with other faculty members to design Sport Studies and Management’s curriculum. Smith-Tran said the new concentration’s courses will mostly be preexisting classes packaged into the program, across fields like sociology, business, data science, and journalism. These will be complemented by new courses designed specifically for the program, including an introductory course.
“By having this program, it’s showing the seriousness of sport in ways that I hope can also be beneficial for student athletes,” Smith-Tran said.
Students will be able to declare the Sport Studies and Management concentration starting Fall 2026. Any courses in the curriculum taken during the 2025–26 academic year will count toward the concentration.
Correction: A previous version of this story said that the Sports Concentration would launch Spring 2026 due to incorrect information available at the time.
