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Lindsey Wilson University Will Start Sport Performance Major in 2026-27 School Year

New academic program focused on preparing students for careers in multi-trillion dollar global sports industry.

by Duane Bonifer

COLUMBIA, Ky. (03/16/2026) — Recognizing the academic and professional benefits of intercollegiate athletics, Lindsey Wilson University will begin offering a sport performance major in the 2026-27 school year.

Lindsey Wilson is the first college or university in Kentucky and the second in the nation to offer a sport performance major.

"Competitive sport participation is an embodied, experiential form of liberal arts learning," said Assistant Vice President for Student Success and Academic Growth Eric Carter, who is a sociologist by education and part of a national movement that promotes the power and potential of competitive sport to shape and create leaders. "This model reframes athletic participation not as an extracurricular activity but as a rigorous academic discipline. Like the performing arts, it develops measurable intellectual, ethical and creative capacities through disciplined practice, reflection and performance feedback."

The 120-hour bachelor of arts degree will include 11 core courses (33 hours) and four electives (12 hours) that draw on the disciplines of business; communication; English; history; physical education; psychology; recreation, tourism and sport management; sport performance; and women's and gender studies. It will also include four practicum-style courses of 90 hours of structured participation and 750 minutes of classroom-based instruction, which mirror expectations of clinicals, internships and performance practicums in the university's other academic programs.

Carter said the new major is especially focused on preparing students for careers in the multi-trillion dollar global sports industry, but some majors might choose careers outside of sports.

"Graduates whose education integrates the study and practice of sport are well-prepared for careers in sport leadership and management, performance analysis, coaching, health and wellness, education, and business leadership," said Carter.

'From the extracurricular to the curricular'

David Hollander, a clinical professor at New York University's Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport, said the sport performance major moves athletics "from the extracurricular to the curricular."

"Like the phenomenal interdisciplinary learning that comes from the doing of music, art, dance and drama, the doing of athletics has been an obvious yet overlooked extraordinary area of human development and an enlightening portal to the human condition," said Hollander, a member of the national sports major collective and the author of the book How Basketball Can Save the World: 13 Guiding Principles for Reimagining What's Possible. "Athletics has long been one of society's most powerful educational realms. It's simply been hiding in plain sight."

Carter cited a growing body of evidence that points to the skills students acquire through sport as another reason to add the major. For example, a 51-year longitudinal study of Ivy League graduates found that former athletes outperformed non-athletes in leadership attainment and lifetime earnings, and similar corporate research indicated that 94% of female C-suite executives participated in competitive sports.

"Empirical research confirms that athletes demonstrate enhanced leadership, communication, time management, emotional intelligence and resilience, which are all hallmarks of liberal education," said Carter, who is also a member of the sports major collective.

Carter said that the major, which was approved by university faculty and its Board of Trustees, also advances the Lindsey Wilson mission to serve "every student, every day."

"This approach positions athletics as a legitimate site of academic inquiry, advancing liberal learning through reflective, embodied practice," he said. "By formally assessing and crediting these experiences, Lindsey Wilson can produce graduates who are not only physically adept but also intellectually agile, ethically grounded and prepared to lead in diverse professions."

Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 29 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university's 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.

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“Empirical research confirms that athletes demonstrate enhanced leadership, communication, time management, emotional intelligence and resilience, which are all hallmarks of liberal education,” said Lindsey Wilson University Assistant Vice President for Student Success and Academic Growth Eric Carter, who helped create the university’s sport performance major and is also a member of the national sports major collective.

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