Arthur Chickering is Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at Memphis State University. On leave from the Directorship of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Memphis State, he is Visiting Professor at George Mason University. Zelda Gamson is a sociologist who holds appointments at the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan.

Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education: Faculty Inventory. Institutional Inventory.

Concern over the academic talent development of Division I student–athletes has led to increased research to explain variations in their academic performance. Although a substantial amount of attention has been given to the relationship between student–athletes and their levels of academic success, there remain critical theoretical and analytical gaps. The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual model to understand and explain the cumulative processes and characteristics—as a whole and in stages—that influence academic success for Division I student–athletes. Research on student–athletes and academic success is reviewed and synthesized to provide a rationale for the basic elements of the conceptual model.

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A Conceptual Model of Academic Success for Student–Athletes

Over the past several years, numerous reports have reported data documenting declining participation in physical activity among youth. We argue that the gender, race and social class differences in these data have not been an important consideration, and that understanding the implications of these differences is crucial for improving physical education curriculum. Because schooling should carry the responsibility of educating children to adopt and maintain a physically active lifestyle, the most prominent physical education curriculum in the United States, the sport-based physical education curriculum, requires the reconceptualization of current practice. As a basis for this reconceptualization, we begin by extending the analysis of gender as a unitary category to a dynamic relational analysis of gender, race and social class. Therefore, by using feminism/poststructuralism as a theoretical framework, we deconstruct historically dominant gender, race, and social class discourses around the body in sports ...

A reconceptualization of physical education: The intersection of gender/race/social class

Background: Recently, a growing number of researchers have explored students' social construction of the body in school settings. Young peoples' construction of the body, inextricably linked to dominant cultural discourses of the mass media, bears upon their identity and physical activity participation choices. Purpose: This study employed a qualitative research design in two public high schools to explore young people's social construction of the ideal body in physical education by using body images drawn from fitness and sport magazines. Participants: Participants were high school students, and formal interviews were conducted with 28 students. Students' construction of meanings about the ideal body were gendered and racialized. Conclusions: We conclude the paper by suggesting that further work on understanding girls' and boys' construction of the body is needed, especially regarding gender and race issues; and that the creation of pedagogical spaces in schools to destabilize and subvert the gendered, r...

The Panopticon of physical education: pretty, active and ideally white

D. Stanley Eitzen adds another valuable addition to the fields of Sport Management and Sport Sociology with his third installment of Fair and Foul: Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport. Eitzen’s approach in this work challenges readers to examine their position on various matters impacting sport. Understanding that people should be challenged to think for themselves, while seeking to provide answers to those items that are truly important, and seeing the extreme relevance in the study of sport and socio-cultural issues, Eitzen provides a path to cover a wide variety of issues in a probing and insightful manner. This work has the ability to offer up new insights and exposures to the sport experience while urging readers to be mindful and think more pragmatically about certain issues impacting study of sport.

Fair and Foul: Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport

Studies have examined the impact of environmental variables on academic achievement among student athletes in the revenue‐generating sports of men’s basketball and football. However, while evidence concerning the positive impact of male student athlete and faculty interaction is virtually unequivocal, we are not certain whether the benefits accruing from particular types of interaction vary across different racial/ethnic groups. This study explores the relationship between male Black and White student athletes and faculty as well as the impact of specific forms of student athlete–faculty interaction on academic achievement. Data are drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s 2000 Freshman Survey and 2004 Follow‐Up Survey. The sample includes 1031 White and 739 Black football and basketball players attending predominantly White institutions. Regression results indicate that the impact of the contact or interaction is to some extent contingent upon the specific nature of the interaction for...

Faculty and male student athletes: racial differences in the environmental predictors of academic achievement

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to synthesize and apply African American racial identity theory and related research to the development of sport and physical activity patterns and preferences in African American youth. Historically the African American over-representation in particular sports phenomena has been examined genetically, anthropocentrically, physiologically, sociologically, and psychologically. The profusion of explanations is a testimony to the complexity of this phenomena. This manuscript provides yet another compelling perspective. Cross ((1995) The psychology of Nigrescence: revising the Cross Model, in: J.G. PONTEROTTO et al. (Eds) Handbook of Multicultural Counseling (Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage)) outlines the metamorphic process whereby African Americans 'become Black'. This is a developmental process in which African Americans develop a manner of thinking about and evaluating themselves in terms of being 'Black'. This paper examines the Cross model of African American racial identity development and gives theoretical implications for the development of sport and physical activity in African American youth.

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African American Racial Identity and Sport

This study examined the extent to which transitioning, first-year student-athletes engage in educationally sound activities in college . The sample included 147 revenue and nonrevenue first-year student-athletes who were surveyed at four large Division 1-A universities . Findings revealed that revenue and nonrevenue first-year student athletes differed regarding their academic and athletic identities . Transitioning revenue student-athletes rated themselves as having slightly higher athletic identities, yet lower academic identities compared to their nonrevenue counterparts . The findings from this study also indicated that the kinds of effective educational practices that first-year student-athletes engage in have a positive influence on their academic self-concept . These findings have implications for head coaches and student affairs leaders, particularly academic counselors and advisors who are working with this special population of students .

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Purposeful Engagement of First-Year Division I Student-Athletes

While the sport sociology community has had a long-running conversation about the relationship between athletes’ success and race, there are few empirical investigations of individuals’ attitudes regarding the connection of race and athletic performance This study on White college students’ explanations of White (and African American) athleticism attempts to push this discussion of race and sport Using a qualitative, open-ended question we elicited explanations from White college students about athletic performance Findings revealed that White students explained White athleticism through discussions of African American athleticism In addition, White student participants avoided biological explanations regarding White athletes’ success

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C. Keith Harrison

Papers

A Conceptual Model of Academic Success for Student–Athletes

Faculty and male student athletes: racial differences in the environmental predictors of academic achievement

African American Racial Identity and Sport

Purposeful Engagement of First-Year Division I Student-Athletes

White college students' explanations of White (and Black) athletic performance: a qualitative investigation of White college students.