Young athletes train for years to be able to compete in college athletics. Thanks to a new master’s degree offered by the UW College of Education, aspiring athletic administrators at the UW will soon get the training they need to succeed at the collegiate level as well.

The Master’s in Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership (IAL) is the brainchild of COE Professor Jim Antony. He identified a need for an athletic administrator training program through his conversations with students.

"We have this critical mass of master's students coming into our higher education program, telling us they want to work in a college or university setting as administrators,” Antony says. “But they want to be administrators in the field of athletics."

Antony first suggested creating the new degree in meetings with Education Dean Pat Wasley and UW Vice Provost Dave Szatmary over a year ago. His efforts picked up steam with the arrival of UW President Mark Emmert and Athletic Director Todd Turner, who were intrigued with his proposal.

Antony believes the UW’s recent problems and its leaders’ work to fix them will add to the degree’s efficacy in training future athletic administrators. Having proven reformers like Emmert and Turner at the helm makes the UW “a perfect place to initiate a natural conversation about how to run an athletics department and develop leaders who appreciate the role athletics plays within the larger role of the University”.

Antony will serve as the IAL executive director. Sara Lopez, a nationally respected leader in sports and higher education administration, has been hired as the program’s administrator. They developed the IAL’s course work after consulting with a panel of experts including Turner, other collegiate athletic directors and coaches, and individuals working in professional athletics. The group recommended an emphasis on preparing IAL grads to be proficient in financial management, strategic planning, public relations, marketing and fundraising. IAL students will study and perform internships under direction from faculty in the College of Education, the School of Business, the Information School, the Evans School of Public Affairs and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Applications for the IAL program are being accepted now, and the first class of IAL students will begin their 12-month course of study in June. Individuals wishing to gain admission to the IAL program must apply to both the UW Graduate School and the College of Education.
For more information: Visit online at http://www.ial.washington.edu.