Paul M. Pedersen

Paul M. Pedersen, PhD, is Professor of Sport Management within the Department of Kinesiology in the School of Public Health at Indiana University Bloomington (IU). Pedersen – a former sportswriter and sports business columnist – has primary scholarly interests in the symbiotic relationship between sport and communication pertaining. His particular focus is in the area of sport communication within the field of sport management. He has researched, published, and presented on the activities and practices of many sport organization personnel, specifically those associated with the media (e.g., editors, reporters) and affiliated with intercollegiate and interscholastic sports (e.g., athletic directors, student-athletes). A research fellow of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) and the recipient of the 2025 NASSM Distinguished Research Award, Pedersen has published over a dozen books (including titles such as Contemporary Sport Management [8th edition], Strategic Sport Communication [4th edition], Research Methods and Design in Sport Management [3rd edition], Encyclopedia of Sport Management [2nd edition], Routledge Handbook of Sport Communication [2nd edition], Communication in Sport Management, etc.) and over 130 articles in peer-reviewed outlets such as the Journal of Sport Management, European Sport Management Quarterly, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Sociology of Sport Journal, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, and Journal of Sports Economics. He has also been a part of more than 140 refereed presentations at professional conferences and more than 50 invited presentations, including invited addresses in China, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, and South Korea. He has been interviewed and quoted in publications as diverse as The New York Times and China Daily. Founder and editor in chief of the International Journal of Sport Communication, he serves on the editorial board of six other journals. Pedersen has served on 57 completed doctoral committees and has appreciated the opportunity to be the doctoral chair of 26 Ph.D. graduates (i.e., Dr. Troy Arthur, Dr. Won Youl Bae, Dr. Jonathan Benedek, Dr. Ryan Brewer, Dr. Katie Brophy-Miles, Dr. Galen Clavio, Dr. Coyte Cooper, Dr. Alex Gang, Dr. Andrea Geurin, Dr. Hope Grame-Zeller [co-chair], Dr. Cara [Wright] Holdsclaw, Dr. Hansol Hwang, Dr. Ju Young Lee, Dr. Minkyo Lee, Dr. Sanghak Lee, Dr. Namhun Lim, Dr. David Lovell, Dr. Tywan Martin, Dr. Erin McNary, Dr. Braden Norris, Dr. Tyler Ratts, Dr. Chris Reynolds, Dr. Young Ik Suh, Dr. Antonio Williams, Dr. Sang Keon Yoo, and Dr. Juha Yoon) and a doctoral advisor to two current students (i.e., Sinhae Roh and Andrea Wilk). Pedersen teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the sport management program at IU. In 2024, Pedersen was inducted into the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) Hall of Fame as a Master Professor. A 2020 distinguished alumni award (Florida State University, College of Education) recipient and 2011 Golden Eagle Hall of Fame (East High School in Pueblo, Colorado) inductee, Pedersen lives in Bloomington, Indiana, with his wife, Jennifer. They have four adult children and two grandchildren, Nolan and Cooper. Hallie (Liam) lives in Pennsylvania, Zack (Megan, Nolan, and Cooper) lives in West Virginia, and Brock (Brooke) and Carlie live in Indiana.