Today is the last day of classes at Georgetown University.  Then, next week will be the final exams and final project presentations.  It’s been a terrific but extremely hectic semester.  I’m finishing my 6th year of teaching the “Sports Marketing Strategy” course in the McDonough School of Business and my third year of teaching / advising in our graduate Sports Industry Management Program in the School of Continuing Studies.  My larger role is with the SIM program where in addition to teaching, I also serve as an adviser as well as business development lead.

This is the first time I’ve taught classes on back-to-back nights (Mondays and Tuesdays).  So, it has been quite a handful.  But, fortunately, we use a co-teaching model with two professors.  Joe Wang (Sports Marketing Strategy) and Andy Zipfel (Digital Sports Media) have both been terrific.   Joe and I have been teaching for 6 years so it’s a good, natural fit while this is Andy’s first time teaching (he excelled this semester).  This is the 3rd straight semester I’ve worked with a “rookie,” but everyone of them has done a terrific job.

It is an interesting contrast between teaching the undergraduate seniors in MSB — many of whom are taking the Sports course as a marketing elective and are interested in Sports but are not necessarily focused on working in the Sports industry vs the graduate students who are completely dedicated and focused on working in this field.  So, it’s a good balance.

This semester has also been quite busy since the Associate Dean of our SIM program, Matt Winkler, and I have taken two trips for the program.   One trip was to Brazil where we went to meet with many top Sports officials from various Brazilian organizations such as the Rio Olympic Committee, Rio World Cup Committee, Ministry of Sport, Confederation of Brasilian Football, etc.  The other trip was taking 16 graduate students to London during Spring Break.  That was a fantastic trip — we met with Octagon, IMG, Arsenal, James Grant Sports, O2 Arena, Lord’s Cricket Grounds, 2012 London Olympic facilities, etc.

In two weeks will be the graduation ceremonies for both programs.  This is always a highlight for me … to be able to shake hands and congratulate our deserving graduates.  And, I also love to meet the parents and family members of our students.   I think it’s particularly poignant for me since graduation always bring back memories of my late father.  Although my dad wasn’t a particularly outwardly emotional person, I can still vividly recall the pride on his face at the graduation ceremonies as I received my MBA degree.  That’s why it’s special and important to me to meet the family members of our students.

My thanks to the students for all of their hard work and effort — not just this semester — but throughout their entire time in the program.   Hoya Saxa.