Columbia University's Sports Management graduate program announced today that John Currie, one of the most well-respected professionals in intercollegiate athletics, will join the faculty for a special one-week intensive course this May. The announcement was made by Professor of Professional Practice and Academic Director, Columbia Sports Management program, Scott Rosner.
The course will be offered in a block-week format from May 21-25 and students will complete the full course from 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. with prep work and assignments due before and after the course meets in person. This will be the first offering of its kind in the Sports Management program.
"We welcome John Currie to the Columbia campus for this first-of-its-kind program," said Professor Rosner. "There are few leaders in intercollegiate athletics who have navigated the balance of athletic success, academic excellence and profound, cutting edge business practices better than John has done, and we are excited to have him share his experiences with our students in a very unique and quite intense setting."
"I am honored to have been invited by Professor Rosner and his team at Columbia to teach at one of the world's elite universities," Currie said. "This one-week format will enable us to have deep discussions on important contemporary issues in the college athletics space with a diverse group of outstanding students and expert guest speakers. I know that I'll be learning too from both the students and a renowned Ivy League faculty."
Currie most recently served as vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Tennessee. Previously he served from 2009–2017 as athletic director at Kansas State. In 2013, Currie was named the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year and earned the Dodd Athletic Director Award. Prior to his tenure at Kansas State, Currie served in a variety of roles at the University of Tennessee, including executive associate athletics director. He began his career at his alma mater, Wake Forest, in 1993.
The Columbia spring student body includes 90 students from 16 countries. Many of the students have prior work experience in the areas of finance, consulting or law, while others enter the program from positions within the sports industry.
The spring faculty at Columbia includes returning professor Neal Pilson, broadcast television pioneer and former head of CBS Sports; Pam Wheeler, founding director of WNBA Players Association; Greg Taylor, the NBA senior vice president of player development; John Gasaway, a leading ESPN.com basketball analyst; Joe Rosales, vice president of business operations at Sports Info Solutions; Grant Son, marketing, e-commerce, and digital media expert; and industry veteran educator Jun Woo Kim. They have joined Carla Varriale, Michael Neuman, LJ Holmgren, Rob Gerbe, Kelly Carroll, Ray Katz, Tom Richardson, Brian Friedman, Adam Raiken, Bret Myers and Chris Lencheski on campus this semester.
Recognized as one of the top ten global programs and the only program of its kind at an Ivy League institution, Columbia University's master's degree program in Sports Management, available part-time and full-time, trains professionals in all sectors of the sports industry by teaching specific management skills in the areas of finance, analytics, digital media, sports personnel management, law, sports marketing, and facility or event management. This combination of broad-based and specific skill training is a hallmark of the program and is evident in both the content and sequencing of courses.
Contacts: Joe Favorito, 917-566-8345, joefavorito2 [[at]] gmail [[dot]] com (joefavorito2[at]gmail[dot]com) (For Columbia)
Carrie Cecil, Carrie [[at]] TeamSM2 [[dot]] com (Carrie[at]TeamSM2[dot]com) (For John Currie)
