Ketra Armstrong, PhD

Dr. Ketra L. Armstrong (a Tupelo, MS, native) is a professor of Sport Management and director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. She is also director of the Center for Race & Ethnicity in Sport (C-RAES); an affiliate faculty member in the Departments of Afroamerican and African Studies and Women’s Studies; and the U-M NCAA faculty athletics representative. Prior to her employment at U-M, Dr. Armstrong served as the director and professor of the graduate program in Sport Management at California State University, Long Beach, and as an assistant and associate professor of Sport Management at the Ohio State University.

Dr. Armstrong’s scholarship converges on the topics of race, gender, and the social psychology of sport/leisure consumption and the management thereof. Her research has been featured in numerous journals (Journal of Sport Management, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Journal of Sport Behavior, Innovative Marketing, Journal of Black Psychology, Journal of Black Studies, Western Journal of Black Studies, and others).

Among Dr. Armstrong's distinctions:

• Outstanding Probationary Faculty Research Award from OSU (2001);
• Young Professional Award from the American Association of Active Lifestyle and Fitness (2002);
• Co-author of an article that received the Outstanding Research Award by the Sport Marketing Association (2004);
• She conducted national research for Essence Magazine on Black women’s fitness;
• Induction as a Research Fellow by the North American Society for Sport Management (2008);
• Lead author of, "Market Analyses of Race and Sport Consumption," which received the distinction of being among the top 20 articles published in the past 20 years by Sport Marketing Quarterly (2011); 
• Induction as a 2015 Fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology.

In addition to Dr. Armstrong’s scholarly pursuits, she has amassed a wealth of practical experience – notably in the sport industry. She is a former NCAA Division I scholarship student athlete (basketball player), coach (women’s basketball), and athletic administrator. Over the years, she has performed integral roles in the advising/consulting, research, management, marketing, and/or media relations for numerous youth, community, collegiate, professional, and international sport events.

Her professional service includes being:

• a member of the NCAA Gender Equity Task Force;
• the former vice-president of the NCAA Scholarly Colloquium and Social Justice Symposium;
• the former president of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport;
• a former Internal Advisory Board member for the U-M SHARP Research Center (for Girls and Women);
• a former board member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame; and
• a former member of the prestigious Wade Trophy Selection Committee (NCAA women’s basketball).

Dr. Armstrong is also a freelance sport journalist. She:

• received the "Newsmaker of the Year Award" from the Columbus, OH Association of Black Journalists (2001);
• was the narrator and co-executive producer of Title IX: Implications for Women in Sport and Education (a 3-Disc, 14 chapter DVD; 2009);
• was the host of Inside Michigan Women’s Basketball on M-GOBLUE.com (2012); and
• was the faculty advisor for the U-M Student Chapter of the Association for Women in Sport Media, which was voted the "2014 National Chapter of the Year." 

For her longstanding dedication to gender equity, the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport recognized Dr. Armstrong as the "2010 NAGWS Honorary Guiding Woman in Sport." And as a testament to her commitment to diversity and social justice, she received the 2014 U-M Harold L. Johnson Diversity Service Award, the 2015 Charles D Henry Award from SHAPE America, and she was inducted as a Fellow in the New Leadership Academy of the National Center for Institutional Diversity (2015).