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Bruce Watkins, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Sport Management

• Areas of Interest
• Educational Background
• Teaching
• Honors and Awards
• Professional Affiliations and Service
• Selected Publications
• Selected Projects/Grants

2150 Observatory Lodge
1402 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2013
Phone: (734) 647-2698
Fax: (734) 647-2808
bawa@umich.edu

Office Hours (Fall 2009):
M 12:00-1:00pm
W 12:00-1:00pm

Full vita>>

Laboratory:

• Media Research Laboratory

Areas of Interest

Short Description: Sport & media, public policy issues in college & professional sport

Dr. Bruce Watkins is a developmental psychologist who has studied the development of children's understanding about athletic competition and performance. His early sport-related research centered on what children and youth understand about the demands of athletic excellence, and how these beliefs change as they grow older. He also conducts research and teaches courses in the areas of media effects and the interplay between media, sport industries, and governmental regulators. Most recently, his research has extended to exploring public policy issues in collegiate and professional sport.

Educational Background

University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, 1979

University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
M.A., Experimental Psychology, 1977

St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN
B.A., Psychology/Sociology, 1972

Teaching

SM 111. Historical and Sociological Bases of Human Movement

SM 313. Special Topics in Sport Management

SM 431. Sports and the Media

SM 433. Sport and Public Policy

KINESLGY 615. Philosophy of Science and Research in Kinesiology

Honors and Awards

Professional Affiliations and Service

Selected Publications

Books

Rowland, W.D. & Watkins, B. (Eds.). (1984). Interpreting television: Current research perspectives. Beverly Hills: Sage.

Publications (primary author)

Watkins, B. (1999, December). "Looking at public broadcasting." Sasaran, 37(2), 13-15.

Watkins, B. (1992). "Youth beliefs about health and physical activity." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 13, 257-269.

Watkins, B. (1991). "Practical applications of communication." In B. L. Parkhouse (Ed.), The management of sport: Its foundation and application, pp. 264-291. St. Louis: C.V. Mosby.

Watkins, B. (1991). "Theoretical foundations of communication." In B. L. Parkhouse (Ed.), The management of sport: Its foundation and application, pp. 107-134. St. Louis: C.V. Mosby.

Watkins, B. (1988). "Children's representations of television and real-life stories." Communication Research, 15, 159-184.

Watkins, B. (1988, March 17). "Testimony submitted for the record on behalf of the American Psychological Association in H.R. 3966, The Children's Television Practices Act of 1988." Hearings before the U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance, Washington, D.C.

Watkins, B. (1987). "Improving educational and informational television for children: When the marketplace fails." Yale Law and Policy Review, 5, 345-381.

Watkins, B., & Montgomery, A. (1989). "Conceptions of athletic excellence among children and adolescents." Child Development, 6, 1362-1372.

Watkins, B., Neighbors, H., Sellers, R., & George, T. (1995, March). "Athletic performance, academic achievement, and life satisfaction during high school and university years: A pilot study of male and female student-athletes." Report to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Ann Arbor: Department of Sport Management, The University of Michigan.

Selected Projects/Grants

1999-2000 Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship, for teaching and research in Malaysia and Southeast Asia

1992-1993 Primary investigator — "Athletic performance, academic achievement, and life satisfaction during high school and university years: A pilot study of male and female student athletes." (University of Michigan, Office of the Vice President for Research, $25,000; National Collegiate Athletic Association, $19,347)

1988 Primary investigator — "Children's conceptions of athletic excellence." (Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies, $6060).

1987 Investigator — Project examining media marketing strategies and selective enrollments based on health risk factors by a national sample of Health Maintenance Organizations (@ $350,000, funded by Health Care Finance Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.).

1984-1985 Congressional Science Fellow — Society for Research in Child Development (one-year fellowship to work in the area of public policy and child development; served as policy analyst with the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Consumer Protection and Finance).

1983 Primary Investigator — Cabling of Oakland County (co-recipient, $30,000, from the Howard R. Marsh Center for Communication Studies and the Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies, for investigating the impact of cable television).

1982-1984 Faculty sponsor & investigator — Bush Foundation grant to explore policy solutions to improving television for children (budget of @ $8,000 administered through the Department of Psychology).

1980 Primary Investigator — "Fantasy from reality: Studies of the cognitive impact of television." (Spencer Foundation, Chicago, $90,800 for 2 years).