College Student Development within the Context of Formalized Sport in American Higher Education.

To this point research on formalized sport in American higher education (i.e., recreational sport and collegiate athletics) has been limited in its conception of college student development which has limited its influence on the design and implementation of college and university sport programs. Expanding how college student development is understood would enable sport scholars to examine a wider array of educational and developmental outcomes within the college sport landscape. Not only would this fundamentally shift the type of questions asked of and about formal sport environments, it might also change how sport managers conceptualize and mobilize sport in higher education. This paper provides a foundational starting-point for sport scholars to diversify their approach to advance the study of college student development within formalized sport environments in American higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]