College of Arts and Science announces new sports and society minor
This interdisciplinary minor that covers the relationship between athletics and society is now being offered to students this academic year.
Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science recently approved the new sports and society minor, which integrates the study of culture and athletics. The minor will require 15 credit hours and span multiple disciplines such as economics, psychology, communications and music.
The minor will also include opportunities for sports-related internships, immersion projects and independent studies to count as credit hours for the degree. After being launched in the fall semester of the 2024-2025 academic year, the sports and society minor, which is housed within the Culture, Advocacy and Leadership program, is officially available to students now.
The degree aims to develop a nuanced understanding of how athletics operate within various aspects of society, such as politics, culture, economics and community, according to communication studies professor and director of the sports and society minor John Sloop.
“Hopefully, there’s gonna be a lot of different dimensions to the minor — the ways in which we think about the economics of sports, the political dimensions of sports and those cultural dimensions, some of which are not political in a traditional sense,” Sloop said. “So how do we find community? How do people find a sense of value being a sports fan? That’s important to me as well.”
Sloop said he sees sports as an integral part of society and culture. Emotion, tradition, money, community and politics are all intertwined within the fabric of athletics, and Sloop hopes that the program allows students to explore this impact more deeply.
Saylor Mullarkey, a first-year student, also recognizes the impact athletics has and the importance of offering such a degree.
“Sports play a huge role in contemporary society, so I’m excited Vanderbilt is giving students the opportunity to dive so deeply into unique subjects such as this,” Mullarkey said. “I think the program will really highlight the different aspects of how sports have an impact.”
A multi-disciplinary course set will be offered to those who plan on taking up the minor with classes already listed on its website.
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