Greetings from Iowa City! I’m writing this during spring break from what has been a delightfully mild Iowa spring season. Temperatures were heading towards 70 degrees during spring break, and before the break, I was teaching students who were in shorts and T-shirts. Campus has been buzzing about the good weather and Hawkeye Women’s Basketball all semester. 

The UISRM program is oriented around a mission to be Student focused. Industry centered. That statement captures our program’s attention to preparing students and alumni for success – in whatever ways a student defines success for themselves – in the sport and recreation industry. One of the highest levels of success in the sports world is undoubtedly the Super Bowl, and the UISRM program is proud of our five alumni who were part of Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas one month ago as members of the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. Some of those young alumni have already won three Super Bowl championship rings early in their careers!

With industry success and Super Bowl championships in mind, the theme of this newsletter edition is “champions in the industry.” Our newsletter team has prepared features on champion UISRM alumni, as well as features on current UISRM students succeeding in national competitions, students earning scholarships, and a new UISRM program partnership with the Women Leaders in Sports organization to give our students every possible advantage as they pursue championship dreams.

The UISRM program is also attempting to return to its championship level during One Day for Iowa (ODFI), the annual fundraising competition on campus that helps UISRM provide scholarships and programming to support student success. UISRM won the ODFI leaderboard challenge in 2021 and 2022 and finished second (to the UI Athletics Department) in 2023. Finishing high on the leaderboard and winning social media challenges earns our program valuable bonus challenge funding that makes gifts go much further – in each of the past two years, UISRM has received more than $6,800 in bonus funding. That bonus funding alone can support UISRM’s entire fall symposium that brings industry experts to campus for educational panels and networking functions, all at no cost to students. 

Please join UISRM’s championship team and help us climb to the top of the leaderboard once again with your gifts during the ODFI initiative. Your gift of $5 or more between now and 11:59 p.m. March 27 at this link:

• https://1dayforiowa.org/srm24 will count toward our total.

The more times you give, the more UISRM will move up on the leaderboard. Break your intended gift into multiple smaller gifts to have maximum impact – I have been making small daily donations at the link to help build up our total number of donations. 

Follow the ODFI leaderboard online March 27 and continue giving on the big day to help us hold off all challengers for another championship. And watch our UISRM social media channels in early April to see your donations put to use when our program takes 55 students to Minneapolis/St. Paul for field trip visits to the Minnesota Vikings and Timberwolves. We simply could not do all that we do for our students without the generosity of our supporters during ODFI.

Thank you to the entire UISRM community for the support that has enabled the program to become a champion on campus year after year. Please enjoy and share the newsletter with others who may be interested in receiving it and let us know of updated email addresses or new recipients to add to our list. We are always building the newsletter distribution list, and your updates help with that process.

If you have feedback, questions, achievements to share, or story recommendations, please contact one of the members of the UISRM newsletter committee listed below:

Alex Voss:  alex-voss@uiowa.edu  //  Anna Jensen:  anna-jensen@uiowa.edu  //  Kara Kehe: kara-kehe@uiowa.edu 

Thank you for reading and for being part of our community!

Dan Matheson

Professor of Instruction and Program Director

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