Karen Hartman
Executive Director
Karen L. Hartman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and Persuasion at Idaho State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication from Louisiana State University and her research interests revolve largely around the role of sport in the United States and how language and public relations efforts frame athletes, institutions, and laws. She has published numerous research articles, including most recently in the International Journal of Sport Communication and the Journal of Global Sport Management. Hartman served as Chair of the National Communication Association’s Communication and Sport Division in 2018 and has been involved with IACS since 2006, holding positions such as Vice-Chair and Chair (2012-2014). She is also a member of the editorial board of Communication & Sport. A former Division-I athlete at Furman University, Hartman worked as a publicist in the entertainment industry before going into academia.
Ann Pegoraro
Board of Directors - Chair
Dr. Ann Pegoraro is the Director of the Institute for Sport Marketing (ISM) and holds an appointment as an Associate Professor in School of Sports Administration, all at Laurentian University. Ann received her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is an active researcher, who has presented at international conferences and published in refereed management journals in the areas of sport management, marketing, social media and communications. Her research primarily focuses on the intersection of sport and new media, particularly social media with her work published in the International Journal of Sport Communication, Communication and Sport, American Behavioral Scientist, Journal of Sport Management, Online Information Review, and the Journal of Sponsorship.
Evan Frederick
Board of Directors - Vice Chair
Evan Frederick is an Assistant Professor of Sport Administration at the University of Louisville. Prior to joining the University of Louisville in 2016, Frederick was a faculty member at the University of New Mexico and the University of Southern Indiana. He holds a Ph.D. in Sport Management, an M.S. in Sport Management, and a B.A. in Communication and Culture all from Indiana University. His primary research interest is the intersection of sport and social media. His secondary research interest is sport communication and media theory.
Kate Lavelle
Board of Directors - Treasurer
Kate Lavelle (Ph.D., Wayne State University) is an Associate Professor and the Director of Public Speaking Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She teaches courses in the Public Communication and Advocacy emphasis area in the Department of Communication Studies. Her primary research interests are in the relationship between rhetoric and sports, specifically in examining issues of race, gender, and nationality. Kate has been serving IACS since 2012.
Brody Ruihley
Board of Directors - Communications
Brody J. Ruihley is an Associate Professor of Sport Leadership and Management at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He holds a PhD in Sport Studies with a concentration in Sport Management from the University of Tennessee, an MS in Sport Administration from the University of Louisville, and a BA in Communication from the University of Kentucky. His primary research is in the area of fantasy sport and public relations in sport. Brody has been serving in this role since 2010.
Roxane Coche
Board of Directors - Secretary
Roxane Coche is an assistant professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. Born and raised in France, she worked as a freelance sports reporter and producer in Paris for three years, collaborating with several TV networks on national and international events. After receiving a Ph.D. in Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, she worked at Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Guadalajara (Mexico)​, the University of North Georgia, and then at the University of Memphis for three years, during which time she led a study abroad program to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Her research interests lie in the relationships among sports, media and society.
Thomas Horky
Board of Directors
Thomas Horky, is a Professor for Sports Journalism at Macromedia University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg/Germany. After studying sports science, journalism and linguistic he worked as a journalist for German press agency and as freelance for several media. He was research assistant at the University of Hamburg (Ph.D. in Sports Science), the Hamburg Institute of Sports Journalism as well as lecturer at the Institute of Sports Journalism of German Sports University. Since 2009 he is Head of Media School and Research at Macromedia. He is member of the editorial board of international journals (International Journal of Sport Communication, Global Sport Business Journal, Modern Sport Communication). His research projects are related to quality of journalism, mediasport and staging, sports journalism and entertainment. He wrote several journal contributions and is editor of two German book series.
Chuka Onwumechili
Board of Directors
Chuka Onwumechili (Ph.D., Howard University, Washington, DC) is Professor of Strategic, Legal, and Management Communication (SLMC) Department at Howard University. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Howard Journal of Communications. Dr. Onwumechili’s research interests cover a wide range of fields including sports, Africa, telecommunications, conflict, and culture. He has published several books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles. His interest in sports focuses on football and Africa where he works on problems associated with football labor, history, rhetorical analysis, culture and identity. His most recent co-edited book on sports is titled Identity and Nation in African Football. He also hosts a sports blog and keeps the largest database on Nigerian national team football. He also previously worked as a free lance sports journalist in Nigeria contributing columns on football to the now-defunct Satellite newspaper in Enugu, Nigeria.
Travis Bell
Board of Directors
Travis R. Bell (Ph.D., University of South Florida) is a multimedia journalism instructor at the University of South Florida. His primary research focuses on sports media often at an intersection with race and gender. He has published in the International Journal of Sport Communication and Communication & Sport and is working on a book about the role of media construction of CTE as a public health issue through the NFL. Bell was a sports broadcast journalist from 2000-2012 at five local television stations and has produced five documentary films, including two connected to race and high school football. You can read more on his website www.travisrbell.com.
Kevin McCarty
Board of Directors - Graduate Student Rep.
Kevin is a second year Ph.D student in Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His coursework is blended through the Department of Communication and Department of Kinesiology. He teaches Introduction to Oral Communication and most recently taught a two-week summer seminar on Communication & Sport to incoming freshman. His research interest is fandom and its intersection with rhetoric, performance and critical/cultural studies. His favorite sport is hockey and he is an avid St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets fan.
Lauren Smith
Board of Directors - Past Chair
Lauren Reichart Smith is an assistant professor of sport media in the Media School at Indiana University. Her main research area lies in the intersection between sports and media, specifically mass media and social media. This focus has enabled her to complete research that focuses on issues of gender, race, and national identity, as well as fan enjoyment and engagement. Formerly a television producer, she worked in the Atlanta and Birmingham television markets. She earned her B.A. from Fairfield University, her M.A. from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, and her Ph.D. from the University of Alabama.