The Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is proud to have six faculty fellows from the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences as part of its cohort. These faculty members have played an instrumental role in the Institute and have been at the forefront of sports science research at Clemson University.
Skye Arthur-Banning, Jasmine Townsend and Ashlyn Hardie are active faculty members in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM). Gregory Cranmer, Virginia Harrison and Rikishi Rey serve in the Department of Communication.
Arthur-Banning is an associate professor in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management whose research is primarily focused on amateur sports, sport development, para/adaptive sport programs and mental health and sport. He actively serves on the Head of Officials for the International Federation of Cerebal Palsy Football, on the Board of Directors for the United States Association for Blind Athletes, and as an International Paralympic Committee NPC Development Mentor for the country of Mexico. Along with his participation in the Institute, he is the co-founder of the U.S. Center for Mental Health and Sport where he currently serves as the director of research and development.
Arthur-Banning has taught a variety of courses through his years at Clemson, including:
Click here to learn more about Arthur-Banning.
Townsend is an associate professor in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management whose research focuses on the outcomes of participation in recreational therapy and the transformative nature of adaptive sports.
She is program coordinator for the PRTM Recreational Therapy concentration, director of the Clemson Adaptive Sports and Recreation Lab (learn more below), and chair of the Clemson University Athletic Council.
Here are some of the courses Townsend has taught at Clemson:
Click here to learn more about Townsend.
Hardie is a tenure-track assistant professor in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management and the newest member of the Institute’s faculty fellows. She has a multidisciplinary background in sport management, business administration, kinesiology and international nonprofit management. Her research focuses primarily on cross-cultural and cross-sectoral exchanges in the sport sector, building sustainable programs and partnerships, using sport for positive social change, and empowering women in and through sport. She coached collegiate men’s and women’s soccer (a former collegiate athlete herself) before pursuing a career in the international sport for development and peace sector. She is currently on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Sport for Development.
During her short time at Clemson, she has helped build the Sport and Recreation Management emphasis area for undergraduate students in PRTM, and has played a key role in jumpstarting graduate-level courses in sport management. To date, she has taught Trends in Sport Management, Introduction to Sport Management and a graduate seminar on Contemporary Issues in Sport. She is in the processes of creating a new graduate course, Organizations & Administration in Sport, for the Fall 2024 semester.
Click here to get to know Hardie.
Cranmer is an associate professor in Sports Communication who has been at Clemson since 2016 and the Institute since 2017. He has three primary research areas, examining how sports groups can function more efficiently, how concussion symptom reporting can impact intervention, and how external stakeholders can make sense of the policies and procedures of sports organizations. Cranmer conducts professional consulting focused on fostering practical communication skills and assisting individuals in adjusting to new social groups and roles.
Cranmer has taught the following courses at Clemson:
Learn more about Cranmer here.
Harrison is an assistant professor in Communication and researches the concept of stewardship in donor/supporter communications and relationship building. She has worked closely with the Greenville Triumph and also researches how corporate social responsibility in sports impacts stakeholder relationships.
Harrison has taught the following courses:
Click here to learn more about Harrison.
A former Divison I soccer player, Rey is an assistant professor in Health and Sport Communication and recently earned her Ph.D. in Communication from Chapman University in 2022. Her research is focused on strategic communication, sports marketing, athlete-coach communication, and health and sport communication. Most recently, she has worked closely with Cranmer and Arthur-Banning as a Co-PI investigating the efficacy of Concussion Legacy Foundation’s Team Up Against Concussions intervention in high school student-athletes and The U.S. Center for Mental Health and Sport, and is actively working with Power of Patients founder Lynne Beckner to further develop an app called Sallie for TBI patient symptom reporting.
Here are some of the courses Rey has taught:
Learn more about Rey here.
Rikishi Smith-Rey, faculty fellow of the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute and assistant professor in Clemson University's Department of […]
The Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is proud to have as part of its cohort of faculty members two […]
Anna McLean and Jenny D'Anthony speak to the crowd during the sports science lecture in Freeman Hall on March 26, […]