NEW YORK, October 28, 2020 -- Sports & Entertainment Equity Network (SEEN) and the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sports Management at UMass Amherst join together to announce their three-year partnership and the creation of the SEEN-McCormack Graduate Fellowship. The SEEN-McCormack Graduate Fellowship will provide a SEEN community member with the opportunity to further their education by receiving a tuition-free and graduate assistantship-funded entry into the MS or Dual (MBA/MS) sport management program.
For nearly 50 years, the McCormack Department of Sport Management at UMass Amherst has offered a cutting-edge experiential-based curriculum to some of the most dynamic leaders in the field. Named after sports industry legend and IMG Founder Mark H. McCormack, the program was last year ranked the #1 graduate program in the world by SportsBusiness, 2019. Invested in diversity and inclusion, the McCormack Sport Management has released several initiatives, scholarships and a mentorship program aimed to improve minority student inclusion.
Melcolm Ruffin (‘12), SEEN Co-Founder and UMass Amherst alumni, says he’s thrilled to partner with McCormack to remove barriers for Black and brown professionals interested in pursuing advanced degrees. “We are ecstatic to launch the SEEN-McCormack Graduate Fellowship. This partnership will create life-changing opportunities for SEEN community members while simultaneously increasing the quality of the McCormack graduate program by ensuring there are diverse perspectives in the classroom. As an alum of McCormack, I am incredibly proud to both give back to the department and fulfill SEEN’s commitment to close the diversity, equity and inclusion gap in the business of sports & entertainment.”
Professor Steve McKelvey, McCormack Department Chair and Graduate Program Director agrees that the partnership with SEEN will be mutually beneficial. “We are both excited and honored to partner with SEEN on this important initiative designed to further incentivize its young professional members to pursue their advanced degree. The breadth of SEEN’s membership across the sports industry ensures that the recipients of these Fellowships will be the future leaders we seek to attract to our top-ranked graduate program.”
Kellen Williams, SEEN Leadership Team Member and a 2015 graduate of the MS program, credits McCormack’s graduate program as an instrumental steppingstone in his career trajectory. “I chose UMass to assist with my professional pivot because of the exceptional faculty, the strength of the alumni network, and the high esteem that the program holds in the sport management sector. The cherry on top is the engaging community that fosters growth through collaboration in a non-competitive and nurturing space.”
The SEEN-McCormack Graduate Fellowship will provide admission into the McCormack MS or MBA/MS (dual degree) graduate programs:
McCormack’s 1-year MS in Sport Management graduate program to include funding for both semesters, as well as a stipend each semester for Graduate Assistantship work (approx. value for out-of-state students: $48,000).
McCormack’s 2-year MBA/MS in Sport Management (dual degree) graduate program to include funding for all four semesters, as well as a stipend each semester for Graduate Assistantship work (approx. value for out-of-state students: $96,000).
SEEN community members in good standing are encouraged to learn more and initiate the application process via SEENtogether.org/seen-mccormack-fellowship.
About Sports & Entertainment Equity Network
Sports & Entertainment Equity Network (SEEN) is the premier organization supporting Black and Brown professionals in sports and entertainment. Through advancement, community building and giving back, SEEN aims to offer its members the opportunity to accelerate their careers, facilitate authentic relationships and provides them with impactful opportunities to reinvest their time and resources into the next generation of diverse sports & entertainment leaders. Founded in 2015, SEEN is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit striving to close the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) gap prevalent in the business of sports and entertainment. The SEEN community is made up of 1,000+ Black & Brown professionals, minorities and allies of DEI working in the industry’s most elite companies. For more information on SEEN, please visit SEENtogether.org.
About The McCormack Department of Sport Management
The McCormack Department of Sport Management at UMass Amherst is the second oldest degree program of its kind in the world and has been ranked by program leaders as the #1 graduate sport management program in the world for four of the past five years (SportBusiness 2020 rankings). One of the few sport management programs housed in a business school (the Isenberg School of Management), the McCormack Department of Sport Management is also considered one the nation's leading undergraduate program. UMass Amherst also houses the papers of Mark H. McCormack and the company that he founded, IMG. For more information about The McCormack Department of Sport Management, please visit https://www.isenberg.umass.edu/programs/depts/sport-mgmt.
CONTACT:
Abigail Bazile
Leadership Team, SEEN
Abigail@seentogether.org
Professor Steve McKelvey
McCormack Department of Sport Management
mckelvey@isenberg.umass.edu
413-545-5066