Faculty
 |
Dr. Kyle W. Kusz Office: 25 West Independence Way, Suite P, RM 212 |
Current Position:
Associate Professor, Cultural Studies of Sport and Physical Culture
Education & Training
B.S. Ithaca College, Sport Studies, Sociology (Minor).
M.S. University of Illinois, Cultural Kinesiology.
Ph.D. University of Illinois, Cultural Kinesiology, Cultural Studies and Interpretive Research.
Honors
2007 Distinguished Alumnus Award, Ithaca College (Professional Leadership)
2007 Nominee for Multicultural Center Diversity Award, URI (Faculty Excellence)
1999 Dept of Kinesiology Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching, University of Illinois
1994 Award for Professional Excellence, Ithaca College (Scholarship)
1994 Male Student-Athlete of the Year, Ithaca College (Scholarship)
Courses Taught
KIN 278: Physical Activity, Cultural Diversity, and Society (undergraduate)
KIN 475: Gender Issues in Sport and Physical Activity (undergraduate/graduate)
KIN 478: Sport, Cultural Politics, and the Media (undergraduate/graduate)
KIN 578: Cultural Studies of Sport and Physical Activity (graduate)
Research Interests
Informed by British cultural studies ideas and methods, my research focuses on the intersection between sport, media, and contemporary cultural politics. Particularly, I’m interested in the ways in which sporting discourses, sport-related films, sporting celebrities, and sporting cultures operate as political terrains where particular ideas about race, gender, class, and nation are created, disseminated, and popularized as ‘common sense’ by agents of the status quo, and how historically marginalized groups challenge and resist such common sense ideas through their own everyday practices or through the use of various media.
Selected Publications
Kusz, K.W. (accepted, Spring 2008). Remasculinizing American white guys in/through new millennium American sport films. Sport in Society, (Special Issue on Sport and Film).
Kusz, K.W. (2007). Revolt of the White Athlete: Race, Media and the Emergence of Extreme Athletes in America. Peter Lang Publishing: New York.
Kusz, K.W. (2007). From NASCAR Nation to Pat Tillman: Notes on sport and the politics of white cultural nationalism in post-9/11 America. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 31(1), 77-88.
Kusz, K.W. (2006). Why be a ‘Jackass’?: Media Images of Young White Men In and Out of Sport in New Millennium America. In S. Spickard Prettyman & B. Lampman’s (Ed.) Changing the Game (pp. 182-196). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, MD.
Kusz, K.W. (2006). Interrogating the politics of white particularity in Dogtown and Z-Boys. In C.R. King & D. Leonard’s (Eds.) Visual Economies of/in Motion: Sport and Film (pp.135-163). Peter Lang Publishing: New York.
Kusz, K.W. (2004). Extreme America: Interrogating the Racial and Gender Politics of the Media Narratives about Extreme sports. In B. Wheaton’s (Ed.) Lifestyle sports: Consumption, Identity, and difference. Routledge: London.
Kusz, K.W. (2002). Fight Club and the art (or politics) of white male victimization and reflexive sadomasochism. International Review of Sport Sociology, 37 (3-4), 531-536
Kusz, K.W. (2001). Jerry Maguire: Reading the politics of white male redemption. International Review of Sport Sociology, 36(1), 83-88.
Kusz, K.W. (2001). ‘I want to be the minority’: The politics of youthful white masculinities in sport and popular culture in 1990s America. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 25(4), 390-416.
Biosketch
Born and raised in Greece, New York, I attended Ithaca College to play soccer and without a real clue about the sort of career I would pursue after college. As a sports-crazed kid I just thought that I’d love to work in a field somehow connected with sports. But after being inspired in a sport sociology class taught by Dr. Stephen Mosher, I changed the course of my life to ‘study sport seriously’ as he used to say. Upon graduation, I moved to the Midwest and at the University of Illinois learned that sport is much more than a diversion or cathartic release from our everyday lives. Rather, sport regularly reveals the best and worst of humanity and is inextricably connected with history, politics, society, and culture. After three enjoyable years teaching at Northern Illinois University, I moved back East to become an Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island in the Department of Kinesiology. Twice a week you can still find me trying my best to make magic with a soccer ball.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
**National Strength and Conditioning Association and the ERP Logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the NSCA in the U.S.A. and/or other countries.
Rhode Island State Clinic
April 13, 2013 CLICK HERE to learn more
2013 Kinesiology Internship Meeting
Students need to attend three meetings during the spring semester if they plan to go out in the summer or in the fall CLICK HERE to learn more
2013 KIN585 Summer Course
Come join KIN585 Disability Sport this summer, session I May 20-June 21 CLICK HERE to learn more
Strength & Conditioning Program
For successfully meeting establised criteria, the National Strength and Conditioning Association officially recognizes University of Rhode Island’s Program in Strength and Conditioning.
Kinesiology Graduate Research Night
Every year, the Department of Kinesiology hosts a graduate research night CLICK HERE to learn more
Kinesiology in the News
Kinesiology is a broad field encompassing all facets of human movement. CLICK HERE to learn more
HSS Living and Learning Community
HSS Living and Learning Community
in Butterfield Hall is a great opportunity for Kinesiology students to network with each other during their first year on campus.
