UofL class leverages PGA Championship to teach students

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla may be weeks away, but a group of University of Louisville students will start class this week to get ready.

A masters-level, three-credit-hour class that runs July 17-Aug. 12 combines time in the classroom with work in the championship’s corporate hospitality program.

This is the fourth time faculty in Sport Administration, a part of the College of Education and Human Development, have leveraged a major, Louisville-based sporting event to create learning opportunities for students. Twenty-two students have signed up for the class and another 10 plan to volunteer at the event during peak times.

“We did something similar during the 2008 Ryder Cup, 2010 World Equestrian Games and the first NASCAR Quaker State 400 Sprint Cup race,” said Anita Moorman, a professor and former program director of sport administration. “We’ve developed a formula that truly benefits our corporate partners as well as our students and is transferrable to virtually any major sporting event.”

Doctoral Fellow Per Svensson, who will teach the class, said the students will cover topics like corporate hospitality, operations, volunteer management, customer service, finance, security management and the economic and social impact of major sport events.

“Each student is required to work at least seven hours each day during the event,” Svensson said. “They will be coordinating hospitality services for guests of local, regional, and national corporate partners of the PGA of America”.

Moorman said the opportunity to network with others in the sport industry is especially valuable to students.

“In the past, we’ve had students land great jobs using the contacts they made at one of these events,” said Moorman.

For more information, contact Svensson at per.svensson@louisville.edu.