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Washington State University
College of Education

January 2020

Sport Management hosts career fair at WSU Everett

By C. Brandon Chapman

Students getting to hear how things really work in the sport world highlighted Washington State University’s recent Sport Management Career Exposition Fair on the WSU Everett campus.

“We had a good turnout and an excellent roster or list of presenters who provided an inside glimpse into the day-to-day of sport management professionals,” Sport Management program chair Simon Licen said. “This included quite a few program alumni who reaffirmed the importance of lessons they had learned in class.”

It wasn’t the first time the program has hosted a career fair with speakers, such as this, but it was the first time at WSU Everett, which helped the program attract Seattle-area sport professionals. This included people working for the Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders, Storm, XFL Dragons, Aquasox, WIAA, Everett Community College, and exhibitors from regional graduate programs.

Paul Pitre, chancellor of WSU Everett.

Because it was held at WSU Everett, Chancellor Paul Pitre, also a faculty member in the College of Education, shared a concise, yet informative overview of how the Everett campus came to be.

Clinical assistant professor Tammy Crawford, who was the driving force behind the initiative, said WSU Everett was very helpful in helping the event take place.

“The staff in Everett were incredibly supportive and generous and the location and facility was perfect,” she said. “It allowed us to cater to students returning to the Seattle area for the winter break, and expose the program and the college on WSU’s newest campus in Everett.”

Because Crawford came up with the idea of the first career exploration fair, and has been intimately involved in each one since the inception, this time leading a group of committed graduate students to plan and execute the event, Licen said it was fitting that industry giants gave Crawford public kudos.

Senior associate athletic director at UW, Erin O’Connell.

And it cemented his appreciation for having Crawford as a colleague and friend.

“It was quite rewarding to see the University of Washington’s senior associate athletic director Erin O’Connell and the XFL Seattle Dragons’ senior directorz of marketing Michelle DeLancy share their professional and personal appreciate of Dr. Crawford with the audience,” Licen said. “You realize then that you are learning from, or working with, an elite professional and extraordinary individual.”

Licen said the event will happen again.

“There are fields that remained unexplored or only briefly mentioned, so next time we will highlight some new aspects and realms of sport management.”

A few tweets that Sport Management sent out during the event