Rachel Madsen, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Email:

rmadsen@niagara.edu

Phone:

(716) 286-8268

Fax:

716-286-8277

Office Location:

St. Vincent's Hall Room 416

Bio

Dr. Madsen is an Assistant Professor in the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Niagara University. She currently teaches courses in Sport Management, Recreation Programming, Issues in Sport, Organizational Behavior in Sport Organizations, and Service Learning through Sport.

Before joining the faculty at Niagara, Dr. Madsen spent three years at the University of Connecticut where she was a full-time doctoral student and teaching assistant. While at UConn she earned a PhD in Kinesiology, specializing in Sport Management, and also a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies. She taught classes at UConn in Service Learning, Issues in Sport, Sport Law, and Sport Psychology. Rachel also worked for the Husky Sport program at UConn which is a mentorship program that pairs college students with urban youth using sport as a common interest. The focus of the program was to develop college aspirations in the youth as well as to expose them to healthy lifestyles, new sports, and various cultural activities.

Prior to her time at UConn, Dr. Madsen spent 12 years working in college athletics as a head women’s basketball coach, assistant athletic director, physical education program coordinator, and residence hall director at three different universities (Wheelock College in Massachusetts, the California Institute of Technology, and Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.) She also served on the NCAA Division III women’s basketball regional and national championship selection committees. While working in college athletics she not only formed important connections at universities across the country but she had the unique opportunity to teach, coach, and counsel an incredibly diverse group of students – many of whom she continues to counsel throughout their lives.  

Dr. Madsen received a Master’s Degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Southern California where she also played softball and an undergraduate degree from Castleton State College where she was a two-sport athlete in basketball and softball. Her decision to attend Castleton was largely based on her inability to choose only one sport, and in fact she attempted to play three sports on two different occasions. She continues to stay active and is still involved in multiple activities including: hiking, running, snowboarding, cycling, tennis, softball, rollerblading, and general fitness. When it comes to sport, Dr. Madsen can largely be considered more of a “do-er” than a “viewer” but she immensely enjoys watching college basketball (especially Big East) and professional football (especially the Patriots).

Dr. Madsen’s research interests are mainly focused on social issues in sport as well as college athletics reform. She has published articles on service learning and mentoring in sport based youth development programs and has presented research on the gender inequality in college athletics employment. She is an active member of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM,) the North American Society for Sport Sociologists (NASSS,) the College Sports Research Institute (CSRI,) the American Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD,) and the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS).