Sada Reed has been named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar, and will work at Aarhus University in Denmark, teaching and conducting research during the 2024-25 academic year to fulfill her Fulbright opportunity.
Reed, who was recently promoted to associate professor with tenure, will perform a content analysis on abstracts accepted by the Play the Game conference within the last 10 years. Play the Game is an initiative run by the Danish Institute for Sports Studies and is a platform for sports stakeholders to share their research and debate key issues plaguing sports around the globe.
Reed will also co-teach a master’s-level sport and globalization class with professors and prominent Play the Game contributors Kirsten Frandsen and Jörg Krieger. In addition, she will study Danish pedagogical traditions that emphasize small group learning.
“I hope to understand these traditions better while I’m in Denmark and bring these ideas back to the Cronkite School,” Reed said.
Reed was the first Fulbright U.S Scholar recipient from ASU for this competition cycle. ASU placed eight faculty members in the 2023–24 cohort of Fulbright U.S. Scholars and has been named a “top-producing institution” of Fulbright U.S. Scholars and Fulbright U.S. Students for the last two years.
Reed is a former sports reporter and editor who has researched sports journalism practice, pedagogy and quantitative methods while also focusing on sports journalists’ training, professional roles and use of the hero myth.
Reed wants to synthesize the content presented at the Play the Game conference and package it into a volume that she can use to teach her classes and for future research. She also wants to understand the cultural context that contributed to the growth of the conference.
“These conferences make it painfully aware that there are negative implications of sports journalism’s historically cozy relationship with the people and events we cover, and the lack of a watchdog role on sports’ governing bodies,” she said.
Sports journalists have discussed a range of issues at the conference including sexual abuse in junior hockey, match fixing and bribes involving soccer governing bodies, and how climate change could affect future Winter Olympic Games. Reed views the opportunity to conduct this research, as well as her selection as a Fulbright Scholar, as the next phase in her evolution as a scholar.
“As I reflected on all that I have learned in my eight years as a scholar, this felt like the next step,” she said. “I really couldn’t think of any better way to research this issue, let alone what my future would look like if I didn’t take this step.”
