Sports & Entertainment Equity Network and the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management at UMass Amherst have teamed up for a three-year partnership to create the SEEN-McCormack Graduate Fellowship. The program will provide a SEEN community member the opportunity for a tuition-free and graduate assistantship-funded entry into the MS or Dual -- MBA/MS -- sport management program. SEEN is an organization that supports Black and Brown professionals in sports and entertainment and has a community made up of over 1,000 Black and Brown professionals, minorities and allies. SEEN co-Founder and UMass Amherst alumni Melcolm Ruffin said, "This partnership will create life-changing opportunities for SEEN community members while simultaneously increasing the quality of the McCormack graduate program by ensuring there are diverse perspectives in the classroom." UMass Amherst Sport Management Department Chair Steve McKelvey on how this partnership came to be said, “For some time now, we’ve been grappling with how to attract more students of color to our graduate program. We’ve tried direct mail campaigns to HBCUs and alumni network-driven initiatives, but when I learned of SEEN the lightbulb went off. Not only was SEEN co-founded by one of our alumns (Melcolm Ruffin), who has been driving our department’s DEI initiatives for many years, but it provided the same exact model of targeted outreach as the 3-year partnership we launched with Women in Sports & Events last year.” McKelvey added, “Just like with WISE, our program can be promoted out to a very targeted audience -- those Black and Brown professionals who are already working in the sport and entertainment industry."
MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN: McKelvey said since their graduate program is relatively small with around 35 students at any one time, “having a diverse class becomes critically important.” McKelvey: “I am confident that this partnership with SEEN will help ensure that we have a robust group of candidates for our top-ranked program.” SEEN Leadership Team Member and MS program graduate Kellen Williams on the impact of the program said, “I chose UMass to assist with my professional pivot because of the exceptional faculty, the strength of the alumni network and the high esteem that the program holds in the sport management sector.” Williams: “The cherry on top is the engaging community that fosters growth through collaboration in a non-competitive and nurturing space.”
