UVM offers hundreds of majors and minors, but sports management was never one of them — until now.

Last spring, the Curricular Affairs Committee unanimously approved the proposal of a new sports management minor.

The minor was officially approved Oct. 2, and will be offered as early as spring 2016.

Associate Director of Athletics Krista Balogh was a driving force in the approval of the minor, which she called a “fantastic group effort.”

“Higher administration also appreciated the cross-collaboration between multiple schools to put the minor into place. It’s a very unique minor,” Balogh said.In Balogh’s athletics courses, there’s been a demand for years by students interested in learning more about the subject.

Lewis Willmuth, a first-year student majoring in business, is particularly excited about the new approval of this minor.  “A minor in sports management would not completely limit me,” Willmuth said.

“I’d get the broad foundation of everything I would need while still keeping a small focus on the overall goal of entering sports some day,” he said. “I figured a minor like this would be the best approach.”

Willmuth came to UVM knowing a minor like this was not available.  Despite that, he’s excited for the minor to be offered the next year.

“Sports is one of the only things that keeps me fully engaged,” Willmuth said. “It’s something I’m passionate about, so I figured that a career in sports is the only way to find a path to a job I will love.”

Sports management is a field of study focused on the business and management aspect of sports and recreation.

This minor was made possible by collaboration between the School of Community Development and Applied Economics, the College of Education and Social Services, the School of Business Administration and the Rubenstein School.

The new minor will be part of the parks, recreation and tourism program in the Rubenstein School.  There are three required core courses: “Sport in Society,” “Intro to Sports Management” and “Outdoor Recreation Planning.”

Students will also have to take a management course, a marketing and communications course and an entrepreneurship course. All courses are three credits and the sports management minor will require a total of 18 credits.

Balogh is a future professor for courses within the field of sports management as well as David Kaufman, Declan Connolly and Leon Lifschutz, she said. Other instructors will be named as the program is developed. Balogh currently teaches a “Careers in College Athletics” course, new to UVM this semester.

“My ‘Careers in College Athletics’ course was in an effort to have another course put underneath as an elective,” Balogh said. “I could see where different courses that may come to light could be folded in under the minor.”