SU College of Human Ecology faculty, students explore business/competitive aspects of modern sport in European ‘Olympic Odyssey’

SU College of Human Ecology faculty, students explore business/competitive aspects of modern sport in European ‘Olympic Odyssey’ May 20, 2009Michele Barrettmibarret@syr.edu

For the next several weeks, faculty and students in the Syracuse University College of Human Ecology’s Department of Sport Management will transform the ‘traditional’ classroom across geographies, time zones and cultures into a three-week, hands-on European exploration of the Olympic movement. The group is documenting its journey experience by experience with first-hand stories and photos at http://olympicodyssey09.blogspot.com/.

This new course, titled “Olympic Odyssey: Future, Present and Past,” teams Department of Sport Management chair and professor Michael D. Veley and senior instructor Patrick Ryan with a group of students to explore the history of the ancient and modern Olympic Games and their influence on modern sport through in-depth exploration of Olympics sites.

During the “Olympic Odyssey,” students’ discoveries are in London, the host of the 2012 Olympic Games; Paris, where Pierre de Coubertin spurred the revival of the modern Olympics in the 1890s; Lausanne, Switzerland, where the International Olympic Committee has been headquartered since 1915 and which also houses the Olympic Museum and the Olympic Studies Centre; and Athens, the home of the ancient Olympic Games and where the modern games returned in 2004.

The business, as well as the competitive athletic, aspects of the Olympic movement are being studied, along with the influence the IOC exerts on sport in modern times. The organizational aspects of the IOC are also studied in depth, as well as the process used to select an Olympic city.

“By meeting with and talking to experts, students have the opportunity to ask in-depth questions and see first hand what the Olympics have brought to the world of sport and vice versa,” Veley says.

About the College of Human Ecology at Syracuse University

The College of Human Ecology is dedicated to excellence in professional academic education and integrates publicly engaged scholarship as a philosophy and method in all of its degree programs. The college brings together a rich history of academic programs whose signatures of social responsibility and justice join new and evolving majors reflective of educating global citizens whose leadership can-and does-change the places and people where they live and work.