About Me

You've reached the home of PERGSS. Thanks for visiting us! The Physical Education and Recreation Graduate Student Society (PERGSS) is a graduate student organization designed to provide academic, social, and athletic opportunities for the graduate students in Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta. PERGSS strives to promote, provide, and organize professional and academic support for its members. In addition, the organization acts as a mediator between the Faculty and graduate students.

Sport Management Student Profiles


Mat Dowling - msdowlin@ualberta.ca
I was born and bred in Cambridge, England. I completed my BSc and MSc at Loughborough University before embarking on a PhD here at the U of A at the ripe old age of 23 years old. My supervisor is Dr Marvin Washington. My main academic interests mainly look at sports policy and organizational theory. I have a particular interest in comprartive elite sport policy. I have previously conducted work examining UK university sport strategies using Archetype Theory. I also looked at Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) partrnership development by the British Olympic Association through Olympic NGBS. More recently, I have been involved in a project examining the status of coaching within Canadian Speed Skating and Ringette. I was also the Canadian researcher/representative for the SPLISS Research Consortium who internationally compared Track and Field Athletics. My thesis (and many subsequent years) will be dedicated to understanding the emergence and current implementation of the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model as a policy within both Canada and the UK.

Although a 'Brit' through and through, My sporting interests mainly persist in basketball (which I play, referee and coach on more than a weekly basis), but also squash, golf and recreationally running stupidly long distances. I have recently found a passion for ice sports such as curling and ice hockey; as such I am currently attempting to learn to ice skate.

Daniel Ferguson – djfergus@ualberta.ca
I was born in Vancouver and raised both there and in Toronto.  I have moved around quite a bit doing a year of post-graduate school in Virginia, a year in South Georgia, and three years at Berry College where I earned a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Business Administration.  During my time at these schools I played a lot of basketball and was captain of the Berry College Varsity team while earning NAIA All-American honors during my last two years.  I was also fortunate enough to accept the Arthur Ashe Award for academic and athletic excellence.  If you are ever in the area of North Georgia and love the outdoors visit the Berry College campus, there are horses to ride, countless hiking and biking trails to experience, and mountains to explore…and as you can tell I enjoyed my time at this school very much.
Now that I’m back in Canada, I find myself out west again.  I’m currently in my 2nd year of the Sport Management program, luckily under the supervision of Marvin Washington.  I also taught the PAC 111 course last year..  The basketball itch would just not go away so I remain a dedicated student of the game of basketball and am on the Men’s Varsity team where I have served as a Co-Captain for two years now. 

Cory Kulczycki – corykulc@ualberta.ca

I am in the sixth year of my PhD program working with Dr. Tom Hinch. The emphasis of my research (PhD topic) is on place attachment within various styles of rock climbing, specifically on how and why people experience different places and establish place attachment, place identity and place dependence. As a research assistant I have been able to expand my research interests into various aspects of sport tourism with a focus on small-scale events from the perspective of event participants/athletes and spectators.

My research streams are aligning into two main areas, first, a focus on place attachment and experiencing place through recreation, tourism, and sport. The second stream is an investigation of participants and spectators at small-scale sport tourism events. I would like to create a third research stream that explores volunteer tourism, which could include fundraising and participating in charity sporting events and non-sports activities.

Hanhan Xue – hanhan@ualberta.ca
Hanhan Xue, is currently a 3rd year PhD student. She took her B.A. degree in Shanghai University of Sport in 2007, major in Sport English and minor in Sport Journalism. She was admitted to Sport Management Master Program of University of Alberta in 2008 and did a fast-track to PhD Program in 2010. She is studying and working under the supervision of Dr. Dan Mason. Her research interest particularly focuses on but not limited to urban development and hosting of major sport events and stakeholder management of major sport events. Recently, she presented two conference papers: “Mapping the Sport Events Strategy Environment in Shanghai” in June at 2010 NASSM conference, Tampa, FL. and “The Changing Stakeholder Map of Formula One Shanghai” in September at 2010 EASM conference, Prague, CZ.

Iva Docekalova – docekalo@ualberta.ca

I am a fourth year PhD student in the Management Research Group working with Dr. Marvin Washington. Originally from the Czech Republic, I spent six years in the United States. The first four years I was on an athletic scholarship and another two years on a graduate assistantship. During this time, I received B.Sc. from the University of Arkansas and M.Ed. from Bowling Green State University. My research interests at the University of Alberta are institutional entrepreneurship of women’s professional volleyball leagues in the United States, legitimation strategies of the Edmonton Capitals and Energy sports teams, and theorizing failed institutional entrepreneurship. In 2010, I presented my research at the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) conference in Tampa, Florida.

I taught several academic classes including fitness walking, introduction to volleyball, and an ethics course (seminar component). In addition, I was a guest speaker for a few undergraduate sport management courses. The past three years I have been involved with PERGSS as a social convenor, undergraduate committee member, and international representative. Throughout my PhD I have been active in competitive volleyball and beach volleyball leagues in Edmonton.


Meaghan Carey – kmcarey@ualberta.ca
I am currently a third year PhD student in the Management Research Group under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Mason.  Prior to attending the University of Alberta, I completed undergraduate degrees in Arts and Management at Dalhousie University and a Master in Public Administration from the University of Regina.
During the first year of my studies, I worked with Dr. Mason studying arena development in Canadian cities.  As part of that work, I applied network theory to one of case study cities to determine how proponents of the arena development were able to mobilize public support for a municipal referendum.  This year my research focus has been redirected to mega-events, and from that has developed two streams of research.  First, a focus on the growing prominence of mega events incorporated into the marketing strategy for cities and nations seeking to rebrand themselves or re-emerge into the global marketplace.  Second, a focus on investigating the issues that surround the hosting of mega-events by emerging economies.
Currently, I am serving as Social Converor for PERGSS and organize the bi-weekly student seminars for MRG.  In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, friends, and two dogs.  As well as skiing, hiking, and taking in live music and theatre when I get the chance.
Publications:
McNutt, K., & Carey, M. (2008). Canadian e-Government: Purpose and Practice. SIPP Scholar Series. Regina, SK.:  The Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy
Conference Presentations:
Carey, M., & Mason, D. (2010, June). Building Consent: Community Networks and Arena Development in Smaller Cities.  Conference presentation at the North American Society for Sport Management 2010 Annual Conference. Tampa, Florida.
Carey, M. (2009, April). Glasgow and the Commonwealth Games: A Research Agenda. Conference presentation at the Cultural Policy Symposium: University of Glasgow and University of Oslo. Glasgow, Scotland.
Carey, M. (2008, April).  For the good of the game or the community? Analysis of the 2002 and 1998 FIFA Men’s World Cup Final. Conference presentation at the University of Regina Graduate Students Research Conference. Regina, Saskatchewan. 

Andre Michael Andrijiw - aandrijiw@hotmail.com
Supervisor:
Dr Billy Stream, 2nd year PhD.

Education:
Bachelor of Sport Management - Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario) - August 2006
Master of Arts (Sport Management) - Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario) - October 2010

Research Interests:
Athletic Career Transition, Sport Fandom and Identification, Sport Management Pedagogy

Recent Scholarly Contributions:
Andrijiw, A. M., & Hyatt, C. G. (2009). Using optimal distinctiveness theory to understand identification with a nonlocal professional hockey team. Journal of Sport Management, 23, 156-181.

Foster, W. M., Hyatt, C. G., Andrijiw, A. M., & Julien, M. (2009, June). Creating a rhetorical vision in the process of repairing damage to the institution: A case study from the National Hockey League. Conference presentation at the 2009 Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Conference, Niagara Falls, ON.

Teaching Experience:
Introduction to Sport Management (TA), Understanding Sport Industry Sectors (TA), Sport Policy (TA)