Assistant Professor - Sport Administration

Department of Exercise and Sport Science (EXSS) at

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Specialization:     Sport Administration

Rank:                     Assistant Professor - Tenure Track Appointment

Term:                     Nine-month appointment with possibility of summer school session

Salary:                   Competitive - commensurate with experience

Starting Date:       July 1, 2027

The Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites applications for a 9-month tenure track Assistant Professor faculty position to deepen and expand research and teaching in Sport Administration.  We aspire to recruit a faculty colleague who will engage in innovative and impactful scholarship that will diversify and enhance our research, teaching, and public outreach missions, and who can translate this research to teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses in sport law and other sport administration courses.

Responsibilities:

·         Establish a focused line of research, publish articles in top-tier, peer-reviewed journals at a rate commensurate with an R1 institution, and seek intramural/extramural funding to support research.

·         Teach graduate and/or undergraduate courses (2/1 load) in sport administration including sport law and at least one other core undergraduate curriculum course (sport administration, sport economics/finance, sport marketing, sport facility and event management, sport revenue generation) or at least one graduate-level course ( NCAA governance and compliance, legal issues in college athletics, intercollegiate athletics administration, marketing college sport, college facility and event management, economics and finance in college athletics, research methods, and statistics).

·         Serve as a research advisor / thesis committee member for undergraduate and master’s students in sport administration.

·         Participate in departmental and university service and governance functions.

·         Perform other duties as assigned by the department chair.

Qualifications:

·         A juris doctorate (preferred) or other terminal degree (e.g. PhD, EdD) in sport administration/management or a closely related field. All degree requirements must be completed before the position start date.

·         Ability to teach sport law and at least one other core course in the sport administration curriculum. Collegiate level teaching experience in sport law is preferred.

·         Demonstrated ability to advise undergraduate independent study and/or graduate student research.

·         Demonstrated commitment to, or record of, student professional development and learning success.

·         Demonstrated ability to produce research publications in a clearly defined area of sport administration

·         Demonstrated record of, or potential for, securing external research funding (demonstrated fundable research interests).

·         Demonstrated interest in developing impactful collaborative opportunities within the Department, across the College of Arts and Sciences, and/or across the greater UNC community.

·         Experience working within the sport industry is preferred.

Application Instructions:

Candidates should apply at https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/326414 by uploading a letter of application, a statement of previous and future research interests (3-page maximum), a statement describing teaching methods commonly used and strategies for meeting the needs of students with a variety of learning styles (1 page maximum) and a curriculum vitae. At the time of application, candidates will be required to identify the names, titles, and email addresses of four professional references who may be contacted by the search committee during the search process.

For additional information, please contact the search committee chair Barbara Osborne at sportlaw@unc.edu.

Deadline: Review of applications will begin on Nov. 15, 2026.  Zoom interviews will likely begin in the first few weeks of December, and on-campus interviews will begin in January.  Position will close on December 18, 2026.

General Information:

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a major research University in the North Carolina state system with enrollment of over 33,000 students. The Department of Exercise and Sport Science supports an undergraduate program of over 1,400 majors (approximately 300 of which are Sport Administration students) and another nearly 200 minors; a graduate program of approximately 80 students, consisting of Master of Arts programs in Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology, Sport Administration, and a Doctoral program in Human Movement Science in cooperation with the UNC-CH School of Medicine. The graduate sport administration specialization is focused on the preparation of intercollegiate athletics administrators and operates in close association with the UNC Department of Athletics. The Department houses the Center for Research in Intercollegiate Athletics (http://www.cria-unc.com). For more information regarding UNC and our Department, please see our website at: http://exss.unc.edu/.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an Equal Opportunity Employer that welcomes all to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. We seek candidates whose work aligns with our departmental mission as outlined on our website.