“I’m Running So You Can Be Happy and I Can Keep My Scholarship”: A Comparative Study of Black Male College Athletes’ Experiences With Role Conflict

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of two groups of Black male college athletes at a Division I historically White institution (HWI) to better understand the key contributors that influenced their academic performance levels, academic engagement, and the quality of their overall college experiences. Two focus groups were conducted with 10 Black male college athletes enrolled at a Division I HWI and a demographic questionnaire was administered to ascertain a better understanding of their personal backgrounds, college academic experiences, and college athletic experiences. Role theory was incorporated as a theoretical lens to investigate the participants’ identity salience, role commitments, and overall college experiences. Findings revealed participants from each group shared common experiences encountering role conflict. However, the coping strategies and academic performance outcomes varied between each group. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

The Transfer Effect: A Critical Race Theory Examination of Black Male Transfer Student Athletes’ Experiences

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of Black male student athletes who transferred from predominantly White institutions (PWIs) to a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) in the southeastern United States (U.S.). This qualitative case study involved a single focus group interview and two individual interviews with Black male transfer student athletes who were enrolled at a HBCU. Critical race theory (CRT) was applied as a theoretical framework to examine the impact of race and racism on the participants’ experiences within different educational and sociocultural environments. The key research topics of interest included identifying the participants’ reasons for transferring from a PWI to a HBCU and understanding their college experiences at the HBCU. Findings revealed participants’ encounters with various forms of covert and overt racism at PWIs resulted in negative college experiences, which motivated them to transfer to a HBCU. Using tenets of CRT and a thematic analysis procedure, the following two emergent themes were identified: “We Were the Outcasts” and “They Want to See You Succeed.” Implications for policy and practice are discussed

A Place of Opportunity: Black Male Student Athletes’ Experiences at a Historically Black University

The purpose of this study was to identify key factors associated with the academic achievement and positive college experiences among Black male student athletes at a Historically Black University (HBU) in the Southeastern United States (U.S.). A concurrent triangulation exploratory design allowed both qualitative and quantitative data to be collected simultaneously and converged during the analysis phase (Creswell, 2009). Participants in this study included current Black male student athletes who participated in football and men’s basketball at a HBU in the Southeastern U.S. Using aspects of the grounded theoretical approach for analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), the following emergent themes were identified: “You Got a Chance,” “An Opportunity,” “Not Just a Number,” “It’s Hard, But It’s Not Impossible” and “As An Athlete It Makes Your Social Life a Little Easier.” Implications for policy and practice are discussed

Sports Leadership and Administration Program Annual Report 2019-20

The SLA Program is designed to foster critical consciousness among future leaders in sport and preparation for successful pursuits in sport administration, marketing, finance, management, and recreation. Mission of the Program: The mission of the SLA Program is to cultivate equity-minded, character-driven, and transformational leaders who will positively improve society through sport. Vision Statement: The vision of the SLA Program is to be the premier space and place for producing life-changing and society-shifting leaders in sport

The relationship between the critical success factors and academic and athletic success: a quantiative case study of black male football student-athletes at a major division I southeastern institution

The purpose of this study was to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of current Black male football student-athletes at a major Division I Southeastern public predominantly White institution who exhibited a high level of success academically and athletically. A group of 42 Black male football student-athletes were targeted in this study. The Critical Success Factor Success Survey (CSFS) was separated into personal development, social harmony, engagement with a strong support system, time management skills, career aspirations and organized religion. A 4-point Likert type scale was used for the responses of the 19 multiple choice questions and, 11 yes/no questions. Each subject was classified by the following categories: year in college, academic success level and athletic success level. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used in this study. The results revealed no statistically significant findings. However, the responses produced from the survey revealed significant implications for further research

Success Through Community Cultural Wealth: Reflections From Black Female College Athletes at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) and a Historically White Institution (HWI)

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Black female college athletes at a Division I historically Black college/university (HBCU) and historically White institution (HWI) and identify key influences that facilitated their academic achievement and positive educational experiences. Two focus groups and eight individual interviews were conducted with three Black female college athletes at a HBCU and five Black female college athletes at a HWI. An 8-item demographic questionnaire was administered to obtain information related to the participants’ personal backgrounds. Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth framework was incorporated to highlight individual and environmental influences that contributed to participants’ positive educational and developmental outcomes. Findings revealed participants accessed and leveraged various forms of familial, resistant, aspirational, social, and navigational capital to overcome challenges and excel in college. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

Effects of Intraframe Distortion on Measures of Cone Mosaic Geometry from Adaptive Optics Scanning Light Ophthalmoscopy

Purpose: To characterize the effects of intraframe distortion due to involuntary eye motion on measures of cone mosaic geometry derived from adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) images. Methods: We acquired AOSLO image sequences from 20 subjects at 1.0, 2.0, and 5.08 temporal from fixation. An expert grader manually selected 10 minimally distorted reference frames from each 150-frame sequence for subsequent registration. Cone mosaic geometry was measured in all registered images (n ¼ 600) using multiple metrics, and the repeatability of these metrics was used to assess the impact of the distortions from each reference frame. In nine additional subjects, we compared AOSLO-derived measurements to those from adaptive optics (AO)-fundus images, which do not contain system-imposed intraframe distortions. Results: We observed substantial variation across subjects in the repeatability of density (1.2%–8.7%), inter-cell distance (0.8%–4.6%), percentage of six-sided Voronoi cells (0.8%–10.6%), and Voronoi cell area regularity (VCAR) (1.2%–13.2%). The average of all metrics extracted from AOSLO images (with the exception of VCAR) was not significantly different than those derived from AO-fundus images, though there was variability between individual images. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that the intraframe distortion found in AOSLO images can affect the accuracy and repeatability of cone mosaic metrics. It may be possible to use multiple images from the same retinal area to approximate a ‘‘distortionless’’ image, though more work is needed to evaluate the feasibility of this approach. Translational Relevance: Even in subjects with good fixation, images from AOSLOs contain intraframe distortions due to eye motion during scanning. The existence of these artifacts emphasizes the need for caution when interpreting results derived from scanning instruments

Photoreceptor Inner Segment Morphology in Best Vitelliform Macular Dystrophy

PURPOSE To characterize outer retina structure in best vitelliform macular dystrophy (BVMD) and to determine the effect of macular lesions on overlying and adjacent photoreceptors. METHODS Five individuals with BVMD were followed prospectively with spectral domain optical coherence tomography and confocal and nonconfocal split-detector adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO). The AOSLO cone photoreceptor mosaic images were obtained within and around retinal lesions. Cone density was measured inside and outside lesions. In 2 subjects, densities were compared with published measurements acquired ∼2.5 years before. One subject was imaged 3 times over a 5-month period. RESULTS The AOSLO imaging demonstrated that photoreceptor morphology within BVMD retinal lesions was highly variable depending on the disease stage, with photoreceptor structure present even in advanced disease. The AOSLO imaging was repeatable even in severe disease over short-time and long-time intervals. Photoreceptor density was normal in retinal areas immediately adjacent to lesions and stable over ∼2.5 years. Mobile disk-like structures possibly representing subretinal macrophages were also observed. CONCLUSION Combined confocal and nonconfocal split-detector AOSLO imaging reveals substantial variability within clinical lesions in all stages of BVMD. Longitudinal cellular photoreceptor imaging could prove a powerful tool for understanding disease progression and monitoring emerging therapeutic treatment response in inherited degenerations such as BVMD

Physical characteristics and non-keplerian orbital motion of "propeller" moons embedded in Saturn's rings

We report the discovery of several large "propeller" moons in the outer part of Saturn's A ring, objects large enough to be followed over the 5-year duration of the Cassini mission. These are the first objects ever discovered that can be tracked as individual moons, but do not orbit in empty space. We infer sizes up to 1--2 km for the unseen moonlets at the center of the propeller-shaped structures, though many structural and photometric properties of propeller structures remain unclear. Finally, we demonstrate that some propellers undergo sustained non-keplerian orbit motion. (Note: This arXiv version of the paper contains supplementary tables that were left out of the ApJL version due to lack of space).Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; Published in ApJ