Sports & Entertainment Equity Network and McCormack Department of Sport Management Announce Graduate Fellowship

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Sports & Entertainment Equity Network (SEEN) and the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management 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 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 ranked the #1 graduate program in the world by SportBusiness last year. Invested in diversity and inclusion, the McCormack Department of Sport Management has developed several initiatives, scholarships, and a mentorship program aimed to improve minority student inclusion.

Melcolm Ruffin (’12), SEEN co-founder and UMass Amherst alumnus, 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 and 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 stepping-stone 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 one-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 two-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.