Former United States Sports Academy teaching assistant and alumnus Dr. Jimmy Mattern was recently named the faculty athletic representative at Wilmington College in Ohio.
Mattern is an assistant professor of sport management and the area coordinator for sport sciences at Wilmington. He completed his Doctor of Education degree while working on campus at the Academy in Daphne, Ala., in 2014. Mattern completed his Academy doctoral degree in 2018 at age 27, making him one of the youngest people ever to complete the institution’s doctoral program.
At Wilmington, Mattern works with another Academy graduate, Dr. Alan Ledford, who is the program director and associate professor of sport management.
“It is nice to have that Academy connection here with Dr. Ledford,” Mattern said. “It says something good about the Academy that it produces high quality educators like Dr. Ledford. I loved being on campus at the Academy, the experience was truly valuable.”
Mattern’s main duty as FAR is to serve as a liaison between the athletics department and the faculty while also representing the institution in Ohio Athletic Conference and NCAA affairs. The role of the FAR is to ensure that Wilmington establishes and maintains the appropriate balance between academics and intercollegiate athletics.
“I am excited to serve our student-athletes as the Faculty Athletics Representative,” said Mattern. “It has always been a goal of mine to serve in this position and I am honored to help our student-athletes achieve their goals inside the classroom, on their playing fields, and in their future careers.”
Mattern, who arrived at WC before the spring semester of the 2020-21 academic year, came to Wilmington from his alma mater, Lock Haven University (Pa.), where he was an assistant professor of sports studies for over four years. No stranger to the OAC, Mattern also spent two years teaching sport management at Baldwin Wallace University.
Over the course of his career, Mattern has worked closely with student-athletes and their professors as well as with coaches and athletic administrators, notably as FAR at Lock Haven. He has continued WC’s mission of “Hands On Learning” having taken students to the Super Bowl, the College Football Playoff, the Little League World Series and many other sporting events. His recent professional publications include an analysis of expenditures and participation in public school sports and comparing collegiate student-athletes’ and non-athlete students’ academic success.
