Florida State University chosen for United Nations’ first-ever sport ecology partnership

A leading global agency of the United Nations has tabbed Florida State University as its first chair focused on sport ecology — a landmark agreement that places FSU at the center of one of the world’s most critical and emerging fields of study.

UNESCO, which stands for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, selected FSU for a four-year partnership that connects the university to the global agency’s priority-setting work and to peer institutions on six continents. There are 14 UNESCO Chairs in sport-related fields worldwide. FSU is the only one based in the United States and the only one dedicated specifically to sport ecology.

The distinction positions FSU at the forefront of a rising discipline linking sport, environmental science and global policy.

“Holding the world’s first UNESCO Chair in sport ecology is a distinct honor for Florida State University, and a recognition that sport’s relationship with the environment is worthy of serious study,” said Timothy Kellison, FSU’s chairholder and an associate professor of sport management within the Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.

“Holding the world’s first UNESCO Chair in sport ecology is a distinct honor for Florida State University, and a recognition that sport’s relationship with the environment is worthy of serious study.”

– Timothy Kellison, associate professor of sport management

Sport ecology is the study of the bidirectional relationship between sport and natural environment. It is a critical field examining both how sport affects the environment — whether through carbon emissions, energy use or facility construction — and how environmental change affects sport.

According to UNESCO, the academic infrastructure for understanding and improving sport’s environmental performance remains nascent. A UNESCO Chair dedicated to sport ecology fills a gap in both scholarship and international policy, helping shape a multi-hundred-billion dollar global sports industry with a large environmental footprint.

The designation gives FSU’s research and faculty opportunities for international collaboration and access to the agency’s knowledge networks. For students, it will signal that FSU provides an education in a discipline of growing career relevance as sport organizations face growing pressure to address sustainability.

Over the four-year partnership, FSU will build a collaborative research network of UNESCO Chairs and academic institutions worldwide; strengthen the education and training of sport ecology; facilitate knowledge for researchers, practitioners and policymakers; and raise public awareness.

FSU is among just 33 institutions in the U.S. with a UNESCO Chair designation — joining other research universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Penn, Georgetown and Northwestern.

FSU’s faculty team includes an interdisciplinary group of experts from across the university spanning sport management, urban and regional planning, geography, design, political science, anthropology and history. This faculty, which will work together to address the challenges of sport ecology, includes Eric Coleman (political science); Ronald Doel (history); Tisha Joseph Holmes (urban and regional planning); Amy Kim (sport management); Amy Kowal (anthropology); Meaghan McSorley (urban and regional planning); Victor Mesev (geography); Meghan Mick (interior design); and Devra Waldman (sport management).

For more information on the FSU Department of Sport Management, which was recently voted a top three program among public institutions, visit the department’s website.

Find out more about UNESCO by visiting its website.