ALUMNI HIGHLIGHT: Jordan Bass

Jordan Bass (M.Ed.'09) Associate Chair, Department of Health, Sport, and Exercise Sciences.  University of Kansas.

What is your current position and can you give us a brief overview of what it is you do in your work? Associate Chair and Sport Management Program Director in the Department of Health, Sport, and Exercise Sciences at the University of Kansas. I oversee all four levels of our Sport Management Program (Minor, Undergraduate, Masters, and Ph.D.), teach classes in sport management, and oversee graduate studies and marketing for the Department.

What would you say most motivates you to do what you do?   What are the goals you most want to accomplish in your work?  It sounds cliché, but it really is amazing to see the impact you can have on a person’s life as an educator. Playing a small part in improving the life of a person is a powerful feeling and something that never becomes less rewarding. I also enjoy finding creative ways to tell our story at KU. We do some really amazing things in our department and I’m fortunate enough to get to design initiatives to share that work with the public. 

What led you to this job?  What were you doing before you came to your current position? I can remember the exact moment I knew I wanted to be a sport management educator. I was sitting in my first graduate class at Wichita State on the WSU west and about a week into class it hit me that I wanted to be Clay Stoldt when I grew up. It was clear he loved his job, had a profound impact on literally hundreds of people, and was a major influencer of my career. After I graduated from WSU, I went on to Florida State for my doctoral work and accepted a position at KU after graduation.

Did you have any key mentors or people who influenced you? Long answer here but three main educators influenced me heavily into my current position. To build on what I said above about Clay Stoldt, I don’t think I’ll ever truly know all that he did for me. As an example, when I was applying for to doctoral programs I would tell him about the places, he would listen and nod and say good luck, and magically within a few days I would hear from those places. After a couple instances like that, it became clear there was a silent hand (Clay) at work. Another professor who had a major impact on me was David Swartzlander at Doane College. He was the advisor of the campus newspaper and I was the sports editor. The incredible passion he showed for us was something I’ve tried to carry on into my current role. Finally, my high school (McCook, Nebraska) journalism teacher, Linda Crandall, is the most inspiring educator I’ve ever seen. She sparked a curiosity in me and was an advocate for all her students in the most genuine and caring way imaginable.