Education and Academic Work Experience: Dr. Kian earned an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Georgia, although he finished his coursework at Cal State Northridge on student exchange. He earned a master’s in Sport Management from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in Sport Administration from Florida State University, where he spent three years as a Sport Management instructor and a teaching tennis professional for the Lifetime Activities Program. Previously he was on the faculty at the University of Central Florida, where he was founding coordinator of the Sport Leadership & Coaching graduate program and earned the rank of tenured associate professor of sport administration. Dr. Kian directs all three specializations of the largest sports media program in the world at Oklahoma State, where he serves or served as advisor for the OSU Sports Media Club, OSU-APSE, OSU-AWSM, and Pioneer Media team. He also served on the faculty athletics committees at both UCF and OSU, and was the OSU faculty COIA delegate.
Scholarship: Dr. Kian’s research focuses on sport media, specifically examining the framing of LGBTQ, gender, and sex in content, social media and Web 2.0, attitudes and experiences of sport media members, and sport marketing. He has authored more than 90 journal articles, books, book chapters, and conference papers, collaborating with many top international scholars while serving as lead or solo author on more than 75% of his published works. Dr. Kian’s scholarship has appeared in top journals from a variety of academic disciplines, including Contemporary Athletics, International Journal of Sport Communication, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Journal of Applied Sport Management, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Journal of Homosexuality, Journal of Sports Media, Men and Masculinities, Newspaper Research Journal, Public Relations Review, Sexualities, Sociology of Sport Journal, and Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal. He is co-author of the popular, content-based textbook, Strategic Sport Communication (2016, Human Kinetics) and lead author of the skills-focused Multimedia Sports Journalism: A Practical Guide for the Digital Age (2018, Oxford). Dr. Kian guest-edited a special issue of the International Journal of Sport Communication and has reviewed more than 110 submissions for 30 different academic journals as an editorial-board member or ad-hoc reviewer. Outlets such as 60 Minutes, The New York Times, Fox Sports, USA TODAY, and the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University have cited his research, journalism, or expertise.
Industry Experience: Dr. Kian has 15 years of professional experience in sport communications, working in newspapers, magazines, media relations, Internet, and radio. His positions included three years as prep sports editor for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, where he was one of a team of reporters honored with an Associated Press Sports Editors national award for investigative journalism for their series on shady practices in high school basketball recruiting. Among his other duties for all nine publications in the Los Angeles Newspapers Group were general assignment sportswriter, producer and writer for all content in the annual Best in the West football recruiting spectacular, and San Diego Chargers’ training camp beat reporter. He also worked fulltime for Gannett as a sportswriter for the Pensacola News Journal, and served as editor, lead writer, and website manager for Horns Illustrated, a magazine that covers University of Texas athletics. Dr. Kian was among the original contracted writers for AOL FanHouse, serving as the lead University of Georgia and an SEC football blogger. Most recently he served as NFL Draft expert and founding partner of SteelersLounge, a for-profit blog operated by four professional sportswriters. During his journalism career, Dr. Kian has conducted one-on-one interviews with the likes of George W. Bush, Doug Flutie, LeBron James, Martina Navratilova, Snoop Dogg, Steve Spurrier, and Bubba Watson, while authoring more than 2,000 articles published in the popular press. He also has experience working for three college athletics programs in media relations/sports information or marketing/promotions, served as PA spotter for UGA home football games, and was a sports staff member at the UGA radio station.
Contact information:
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@SportMediaProf
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