Donna Mae Miller

Intercollegiate Athletic Administration: Preparation Patterns

Abstract Over the past decade the field of athletics has experienced rapid growth and change, underscoring the need for updating knowledges about effective administration of these programs. The main purpose of this study was to ascertain the job responsibilities and essential characteristics of intercollegiate athletic directors (ADs) and to solicit their recommendations for a graduate program of study in athletic administration. The study was primarily exploratory, much of the data being descriptive in nature. A random sample of 320 ADs (163 men and 157 women) participated in the study. Rankings of job responsibilities were significantly affected by the competitive level (division) of the program administered, but not by the gender of the AD or whether the AD headed an NCAA or AIAW program. The implication is that courses of study should reflect the responsibilities in varying competitive divisions while incorporating common areas of responsibilities that apply to all programs. Regardless of the gender o...

Philosophy: Whose Business?

This essay warns that physical education may be in danger of being overwhelmed with specialized technically oriented career programs. As a result, the humanities may be abandoned as an active curricular center of influence. A plea is made to counter the pinching narrowness of specialization by embracing the methods and orientations of philosophy as one of the most important humanities. It is argued that philosophy, not merely as a field of study but also as an act of rational conjecture, is everybodys business. It is useful in sharpening the tools of critical thinking, stimulating self-examination, helping resolve professional issues, providing a means for better understanding of physical education, and elevating the wholeness of physical educations common enterprise. Moreover, students armed with philosophical tools are eminently marketable.

Sex-Role Orientation and Athletic Administration.

The Bem Sex Role Inventory was administered to 157 women and 163 men in athletic administration. The majority of male (89.5% to 94.1%) and female (85.7% to 91.0%) athletic directors (ADs) was either androgynous or masculine. The findings show that ADs display a higher level of androgyny than do business executives, and suggest that ADs may possess a greater degree of behavioral flexibility. The data indicate that differences in sex-role behaviors of female and male ADs do not justify the discrepant number of men in AD positions. The results also indicate that both female and male ADs have a stronger masculine than feminine perception of themselves, regardless of the competitive level (division) of their program.

Ethics in Sport: Paradoxes, Perplexities, and a Proposal

Despite the seeming conviction that sport promotes ethical values, many paradoxes in sport ethics exist. To overcome some of these problems, attempts need to be made to activate some catalysts that might lead to an ethical mobilization in sport. Extensive inquiry into the concerns of ethics, professional preparation programs for coaches, school education programs, national governance, media coverage, and mobilization of professional forces are suggested as possible approaches for achieving ethics in sport.