Looking at the official name of the department, a person may fail to realize what actually encompasses the "Department of Health & Kinesiology." It, of course, means health and kinesiology and their various fields. It also refers to the physical education activity program, of which every Texas A&M University student must take part of. However, one of the most active divisions on campus is also here.

The division of Sport Management is a growing field that offers students professional preparation in the field of sports. For some, this means working with professional sports, minor league sports or any of the venues that sport provides. However, one of the labs that serve students who have an interest in the collegiate sporting world is the Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics (LSIA).

Established in the fall of 2003, the LSIA is an interdisciplinary research and training laboratory. The primary mission of the LSIA is to advance and further develop the management of the intercollegiate athletics community through scholarly and progressive inquiry.

Under the direction of Dr. Shane Hudson, the LSIA examines major concepts and issues related to the management of

"Anything that touches college sports, we are trying to be involved in," Hudson says.

Jobs in collegiate athletics aren't just about ticket sales. Their responsibilities range from organizational effectiveness and efficiency, social responsibility and ethics, leadership, organizational control and planning, reform and organizational change, fiscal management, gender equity, diversity, legal aspects, career attainment processes, and marketing.

The LSIA takes an approach that looks primarily at college athletics, versus professional sporting teams. "College sports are very much their own entity," Hudson says. "We have a lot of students who are interested in pursuing a career in college sports with many wanting to become athletic directors. But you also have marketing and game day management, media relations, compliance, fund raising, event management, academic services, all of which are appealing to a student interested in college sports."

There are three major goals of the LSIA: 

1. To generate new knowledge of concepts and issues related to the practice, application and theory of intercollegiate athletics management,
2. To aggregate existing sources of knowledge and inquiry related to the practice, application and theory of intercollegiate athletics management, and
3. To disseminate timely and appropriate knowledge concerning the practice, application and theory of intercollegiate athletics management.

Recently, the LSIA made national headlines with its announcement of winners of the Excellence in Management Cup. The award goes to universities that not only win championships, but run economically sound programs. With the possibility of the economy having an effect on a university's sports program, the goal of the EM Cup is to show those programs that spend their money smartly without compromising achievements. The 2009 national champion were the Aggies... from the athletic department at Utah State. Conference winners included Texas A&M (Big 12), Tulsa (Conference USA), Kent State (MAC), BYU (Mountain West), Oregon (Pac 10), Maryland (ACC), and Western Kentucky (Sun Belt).

Annually the lab brings in figures from the sport management world to talk to students. So far he LSIA Lecture Series has been a chance for those going into the field of college sports to hear from an array of speakers from sports marketing and promotion, recruiting, and fundraising.

With all the LSIA does, it's amazing to note that it is run with no grant money and a limited budget. Most of the work is done exclusively by Dr. Hudson and his graduate student Rob Clark. However, as the word gets out about the EM Cup, that is surely expected to grow.

The lab is also one of the only a few places this type of work on collegiate athletics is being done. While the NCAA does research on all aspects of sports in college, only a handful of universities are doing the detailed work that the LSIA is doing.

"I want to create a quality resource for people interested in intercollegiate athletics," Hudson says. "The goal is to have both practical and academic information on our website."

Future plans include writing a college sports textbook and turning to the NCAA for research grants. Dr. Hudson is also looking to take a group of students to work the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic for some real world experience.

"The future relies on us doing some great things and creating opportunities for involvement for our students," Hudson says. "If we create awareness of the program, it will continue to grow and prosper."

Dr. Shane Hudson, Professor
Adrien Bouchet, Professor