CFP: Creating Social Change in and through Intercollegiate Sport

Call for Papers—Creating Social Change in and through Intercollegiate Sport
Journal of Intercollegiate Sport
Guest Editor: Nicole Melton

A growing number of advocacy and nonprofit organizations recognize that sport can be a powerful vehicle for promoting social change. Sport’s transformational effects are frequently realized because it attracts, unites, and inspires individuals from diverse backgrounds. The potential of sport—and those within it—to enact change does not develop automatically, but instead, requires individuals to first recognize a social injustice, and then consciously work toward creating meaningful change. Recognizing this potential, Myles Brand, the former president of the NCAA stated, “we should not underestimate the potential of athletics to contribute to social change, nor should we shy away from that responsibility.” In support of Brand’s sentiments, this special issue calls attention to the need to examine intercollegiate sport’s impact on social change.

This special issue provides an opportunity for scholars and practitioners to examine social change within intercollegiate sport and to promote its study and practice within the field. We invite manuscripts that address how intercollegiate sport as an institution and the individuals associated with it promote social change. Empirical work engaging in these issues is strongly encouraged, but conceptual and theoretical work is also welcomed.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Examination of the ways individuals or organizations within intercollegiate sport serve as advocates to address social issues within and outside of sport;
• Motivations to advocate for social change within or outside of sport;
• Organizational initiatives to promote social change within or outside of the sport context;
• Exploration of how certain factors within sport encourage or inhibit individuals from acting as change agents;
• The organizational structure of effective intercollegiate athletic departments that promote social change;
• How the use of social media can affect social change;
• Multilevel analyses of factors related to social change and its effectiveness, including analyses at the individual, organizational, team, and societal levels;
• Multilevel analysis of outcomes associated with social change initiatives
• Investigation the effectiveness of social change initiatives (fundraising efforts, awareness campaigns)
• The uniqueness of sport in creating social change
• Approaches to monitoring and evaluating social change initiatives

Manuscripts should follow the standard author guidelines for the Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, should not exceed 35 pages, and should be submitted through Manuscript Central: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hk_jis.

Submissions will be accepted until November 1, 2014. Direct any questions to Nicole Melton (nicole.melton@ttu.edu). Anticipated publication is June 2015 (Volume 8, Issue 1).