The Research Focus on Education and Sport Special Interest Group (SIG) exists to promote  and improve scholarship and practice related to the broad intersections of education and sport.

Welcome to the AERA Research Focus on Education and Sport (RFES) Special Interest Group (SIG164)!  We are a close-knit yet wide-reaching community of scholars and practitioners interested in advancing the fields of sport and education research. RFES hosts AERA's preeminent experts on youth/high school sport, intercollegiate athletics, and professional sport settings. However, we also advance inter- and transdisciplinary scholarship from the realms of sociology, economics, management, cultural studies, and beyond! If you're studying- or simply interested in- the roles that sports of all kinds play in education, and how education at all levels in turn influences the world of sports, there's a place for you in SIG164. We cordially invite you to join our SIG and we look forward to supporting your professional development!

Be sure to consider SIG164 when submitting your work to the AERA Annual Meeting- we provide tailored feedback for sports scholars to help you advance your work.

Additionally, If you have ideas for how we can improve our programming, engage in meaningful professional development activities, or build our community of scholars, don't hesitate to reach out! You can find contact information for our executives in the "SIG Leadership" section below.

Best,

Steve Dittmore, PhD

SIG164 Chair

Chair: Dr. Steve Dittmore

Dr. Steve Dittmore joined the University of North Florida as Dean of the Silverfield College of Education and Human Services in July 2024. Prior to this role, he spent two years as a Dean at Baldwin Wallace University and 14 years as an administrator and faculty member at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Dittmore received a PhD from the University of Louisville in 2007 and holds bachelor's and master’s degrees in journalism from Drake University. He was an assistant editor at “AthleticDirectorU” and currently writes for his Substack newsletter, “Glory Days.” A recognized researcher in the areas of sport media and intercollegiate athletics, he is a co-author of the Sport Public Relations textbook and an author on nearly 50 journal articles, 12 book chapters, and more than 70 presentations. He received the SIG164 Distinguished Senior Scholar award in 2026, was a AALI/CIC Senior Leadership Academy fellow in 2023-24, and a Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development fellow in 2021-22. He held leadership roles at two Olympic Games (Atlanta 1996 and Salt Lake City 2002), and has presented at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is the author of Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger, published in February 2025 by August Publications.

Email: s.dittmore@unf.edu

Secretary/Treasurer: Dr. Molly Harry

Dr. Molly Harry is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at the University of Florida. She earned her BS in applied physiology and kinesiology from UF, her MA in sport administration from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and her PhD in higher education from the University of Virginia. Through predominantly qualitative and mixed methods approaches, her research explores ways to integrate “big-time” athletics into the American academy with a focus on three areas: (1) understanding the relationship between the NCAA, institutions, and athletic departments; (2) examining ways the NCAA, institutions and athletic departments can improve athletes’ developmental opportunities and experiences; and (3) exploring avenues for continued sport-education integration. As an author and contributor on more than 40 scholarly publications, Dr. Harry’s work has appeared in the Sociology of Sport Journal, the Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education, Sport in Society, Kinesiology Review, and others. She also serves on multiple editorial boards for journals in the fields of sport management and higher education, and is a Research Advisor at the University of Colorado-Boulder. In her free time, Dr. Harry enjoys reading thriller novels, traveling, working out, and cheering on the Gators!

Email: mharry3@ufl.edu

Program Chair: Dr. Eric M. Davidson

Dr. Eric M. Davidson is a Research and Policy Fellow at the University of California, Riverside Center for Athlete’ Rights and Equity, as well as a Lecturer in the UCR School of Education. He earned his PhD in higher education administration and policy from UCR, and holds a BA in political science and MA in higher education from the University of Arizona. His critical, transdisciplinary scholarship examines how sport and its associated cultures influence the philosophy and political economy of higher education in local and global contexts. Dr. Davidson’s dissertation earned the SIG164 Emerging Scholar Award in 2025 and the UCR School of Education’s Dissertation of the Year Award in 2026. His writing is published in Current Issues in Education, the Sociology of Sport Journal, the Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education, the Journal of Higher Education, Athletics, Labor and Innovation, and beyond. He has taught courses on athletics administration and research methods at UCR, the UA, and the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining UCR, he spent two years in an academic support practitioner role at Arizona Athletics. A lifelong action sports athlete, Eric spends much of his free time skateboarding, snowboarding, cycling, and climbing.

Email: eric.davidson@ucr.edu