Faculty/Staff Detail

Erin Morris

Erin Morris


Erin Morris is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management. She received her PhD in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in December 2016. She also earned her MS from Clemson University and her BA from Whitman College.

At SUNY Cortland, Dr. Morris teaches courses in event management, interscholastic and intercollegiate sport, and disability sport. Prior to pursuing her career in academia, Dr. Morris worked in municipal parks and recreation. In this position, she organized youth sport and recreation activities, leagues and camps, adult recreation courses, and community wide events for the City of Walla Walla, WA. She also has experience as a youth hockey coach and as a soccer referee. While at Whitman College she founded the club ice hockey team and at the University of Illinois she spent one season as the president of the women’s ice hockey club.

Dr. Morris’ research focuses on women and girls’ participation in sport and women’s specific sport development models. She is particularly interested in non-traditional sports such as women’s ice hockey, rugby, and roller derby. She has manuscripts published in The Journal of Intercollegiate Sports, International Journal of Sport Management, and Recreation Sports Journal. Dr. Morris regularly presents at national and international conferences such as North American Society for Sport Management, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, National Recreation and Parks Association, and the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry.

Education

PhD University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign December 2016
Major: Recreation, Sport, and Tourism Emphasis Area: Sport & Recreation Management Certificates: Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning Certificate in Foundations of Teaching

Dissertation: The impact of structural systems on perceptions of legitimacy and the experiences of female hockey players.

M.S. Clemson University May 2012
Major: Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management
Emphasis Area: Community Recreation

Thesis: Head coaching motivation of millennial generation female assistant coaches.

B.A. Whitman College May 2009
Major: Sociology
Minor: Sports Studies, Recreation, and Athletics
Honors Thesis: Acceptance of female coaches: Bringing athletics into the 21st century.

Teaching

Undergraduate courses

SPM 227 – Facility Management
SPM 247 – Introduction to Intercollegiate and Scholastic Sport
SPM 255 – Sport Event Management 
SPM 450 – Disability and Sport
SPM 455 – Applied Sport Event Management

Graduate courses

SPM 647 – Intercollegiate Athletics Management (online)

Publications

Peer Reviewed Articles
Morris, E., van Riper, C.J., Kyle, G.T., Wallen, K.E., Absher, J. (2017). Accounting for gender in a study of the motivation-involvement relationship. Leisure Sciences Online.

McDowell, J., Deterding, R., Elmore, T., Morford, E., Morris, E. (2016). Title IX and Campus Recreation: Guidelines to Increase Gender Equity in Club and Intramural Sport Programs. Recreational Sports Journal 40(2): 133-151.

Morris, E., Arthur-Banning, S., McDowell, J. (2016). Constraints to millennial generation female assistant coaches pursuing head coaching careers. International Journal of Sport Management, 13(3): 336-356.

Morris, E., Arthur-Banning, S., McDowell, J. (2014). Career strategies of millennial generation female assistant coaches. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 7: 175-197.

Technical Reports

Morris, E.L., & van Riper, C.J. (2015). A summary of past research on environmental messaging. Prepared for the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.

Morris, E.L. (2015). Lack of Growth in Women’s Club Rugby in the U.S. Prepared for USA Rugby.

Arthur-Banning, S. G., Morris, E.L. (2010). Evaluating the Fall Programs. Prepared for Greenville County Recreation District.

Molitor, S., Morris, E.L. (2009). Whitman College Club Sports Handbook. Prepared for Whitman College Department of Sport Studies, Recreation, and Athletics.

Service

SUNY Cortland Sport Management Department
Curriculum Committee (2017-present)
Graduate Program Advisory Committee (2017-present)
Assistant Professor Search Committee (2016-2017; 2017-present)
SUNY Cortland university-wide
Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Committee (2017-present)