BestColleges.com Ranks N.C. A&T No. 1 HBCU for Sports Management in 2023

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Feb. 23, 2022) – BestColleges.com has rated North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University its top historically Black college or university (HBCU) for earning a sports management degree.

In compiling its list for 2023, BestColleges.com aggregated the most relevant school indicators including admission, enrollment and retention rates as well as affordability using data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

N.C. A&T offers a B.S. in sport science and fitness management through the John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences’ Department of Kinesiology – one of the largest on campus, with more than 700 students.

“This recognition is testimony to the hard work and commitment to student success by faculty and staff in the Department of Kinesiology,” said Elimelda Moige Ongeri, Ph.D., Hairston College dean. “Programs in that department  are some of the most popular for undergraduate students at N.C. A&T.”

BestColleges.com, recognizing A&T’s status as the nation’s largest HBCU and the state’s most affordable university, noted that students in the degree program choose one of three concentrations: business administration, leisure studies or physical therapy prerequisites (pre-physical therapy). Those in the business administration option take additional courses such as marketing, management information systems and entrepreneurship.

All graduates complete courses – such as principles of strength and conditioning, fitness leadership, anatomy and physiology, sports nutrition, and fitness testing – that prepare them for nationally recognized certification exams offered by the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the National Academy of Sports Medicine, among others.

First- and second-year students in the degree program are eligible to participate in the Facilitating Interpersonal Transformation (F.I.T.) Living Learning Community. This provides them with structured academic, social and professional experiences as a means for them to examine exercise and related disciplines’ leadership models, develop a practical understanding of sport organizational administrative functioning and participate in collaboratively planned leisure activities.

“Our program graduates find employment in all areas of the sports management industry – from secondary education to the professional sports level – and make significant contributions to the communities where they live,” said R. Trent Larson, Ph.D., associate professor and interim Department of Kinesiology chair. “Aggies take pride in leading youth and adult sports programs in innovative ways.”