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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to expose students and faculty to grant writing in order to support future grant proposal submissions and attainment in Sport Management. Within, this work suggests faculty and students should distinguish grant writing as different from traditional academic writing and recognize the opportunity grant writing can contribute toward the branding, legitimacy, and development of Sport Management as an academic discipline. Topics such as the definition of grant writing and establishing the need for and collaboration in grant writing are covered. Finally, this work highlights the key role grant writing can play in the development of future faculty members in the academy. Accordingly, the process of grant writing is characterized as an essential element of doctoral student career preparation.
INTRODUCTION
In Sport Management, as well as other academic disciplines, resources are needed to provide students, faculty, and staff with the best opportunities to be successful. Grant writing has been used as one strategy by multiple fields at numerous colleges and universities because of the many advantages utilization of that activity provides towards the securing of resources (Thomas, 2003). However, unlike many other academic disciplines, Sport Management lacks both grant writing structure and resources, which hinders the growth and development of the field to answer questions of scholarly and practical importance (Jones, Brooks, & Mak, 2008). Mahony (2008) and Chalip (2006) proposed that, as the Sport Management major continues to grow, reliance on federal grants and other external funding should increase in importance. Others (e.g., Barnes & Brayley, 2006; Blankenship, Jones, & Lovett, 2010; Jones et al., 2008) have also promoted the pursuit of grants and grant writing courses within Sport Management as capable of enriching both the student and faculty experience. Further evidence supports the recognition of these comments by confirming that, with sufficient structure and resources for grant writing, Sport Management programs could capitalize on the wealth of funds available through grants, which exceed $40 billion annually from over 90,000 different organizations (Blankenship et al., 2010; Devine, 2009).
Breneman and Yakoboski (2011) defined grant writing as fundraising conducted by institutions of higher education to support research, teaching, and other academic-based activities. The grant writing process encompasses proposals or case statements that contain project descriptions or narratives, rationales, budgets,...