By Lauryn Luderman

Sports and Society Initiative hosted a lunch on Monday at the Ohio State Faculty Club where members from several colleges with different areas of expertise across Ohio State and nearby universities discussed a common passion: sports. 

Since its start six years ago, SSI has been expanding with plans to involve students and faculty throughout Ohio State. 

Christopher Knoester, an expert in sociology of sport and member of the advisory board since SSI was formed, said he is hopeful that new sports and society topics might emerge as a result of involving more people across campus. 

“We had dreams and aspirations of building out of the College of Arts and Sciences,” Knoester said. “More people doing sports and society work… through events like this.” 

Monday’s lunch brought together faculty from the departments of statistics, economics, communications, mathematics, human sciences, sociology, engineering and even an expert from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center who all are interested in the overlap between their expertise and sport. 

Athena Yiamouyiannis, left, a member of Ohio State’s mathematics advising department for eight years now, previously worked for the NCAA for 10 years before becoming a sports management faculty member at Ohio University.

“I thought ‘I’ve been working in the math department for eight years now and have mastered my job and am looking for new opportunities,’” Yiamouyiannis said. “You have to move out in order to move up.”

As many attendees were unsure of what SSI is and how they could be involved, the lunch introduced them to its goals, research, the people behind the initiative and revealed areas where their own expertise might be needed. 

Nicole Kraft, SSI’s director, said Ohio State is No. 1 in the country in athletics and should be No. 1 in research discussing both sports and society. 

Each attendee had the opportunity to share ideas relating to where their expertise could intersect with SSI. 

Research was a prevalent topic and is an area where SSI hopes to expand its knowledge and gather new information to integrate into the world of sports and society. 

Jackie Goodway, left, professor, and chair of kinesiology within the College of Education and Human Ecology, spoke about her interest in SSI and that attending this event might allow her to find new opportunities to connect her work with others across campus. 

Goodway said she wants to be able to involve underrepresented groups and first-generation students in various research opportunities, potentially through the help of SSI.

“We are trying to create a webspace… where we list all of the research projects that are going on,” Goodway said. “Essentially, we’re trying to make it more accessible.”

The purpose of the faculty meet and greet was to introduce individuals to the opportunities that exist within SSI and hopefully allow it to branch out to different colleges within the university.

Many attendees showed optimistic interest in collaboration with SSI making the event a success. 

Those who have found connections between sport and society are welcome to share their ideas to help expand the initiative’s reach and impact. 

Any faculty interested in getting involved with Sports and Society are encouraged to contact them at sportssociety@osu.edu.