Steven Rackley, a Professor in the Practice of Sport Management at Rice University, received the Sarah A. Burnett Teaching Prize in the Social Sciences in late April. This annual award recognizes the faculty member(s) in the Social Sciences with the highest teaching scores in the previous academic year.
Rackley joined Rice’s Sport Management program in 2019 after 33 years in collegiate athletic administration. After receiving a master’s degree in Sports Administration and Facility Management from Ohio University, he worked at Salt Lake Community College, Weber State University, and Marshall University before being hired as the Athletic Director at the University of Findlay. He spent 16 years at Findlay before moving into the same role at Alma College.
While at Alma, Rackley began pondering how to wind down his career. While on an NCAA site visit in Houston, he met with Clark Haptonstall, Chair of Rice’s Department of Sport Management—the two were friends from their days working together at Marshall. The rest, as they say, is history.
“It’s a bit serendipitous how it all worked out,” says Haptonstall. “With many of our students wanting to explore the world of college athletics, we really needed a faculty member with a strong background in that area. Steven has not only overseen entire athletic departments but has also served on many NCAA committees. He offers our students a well-rounded look at the business of college athletics and brings tremendous value to the department.”
Rackley teaches courses in college athletics, leadership, and event and venue management. He’s known for fostering conversations in his classroom, where students are comfortable both asking and answering questions.
“Rice students are very competitive, which makes for interesting class discussions,” Rackley says. “I tend to be very enthusiastic about my class discussions, and I bring a lot of personal stories into them. I try to build an environment where the students are prodded to think of and see things in ways different from before.”
Rackley intentionally works toward getting to know each and every student in his class and understanding who they are as people, not just as students. “Rice has wonderful students,” he says. “I care about them, and I just really love teaching them.”
Rackley joins two other Sport Management professors who recently received the Sarah A. Burnett Teaching Prize in the Social Sciences: Haptonstall (2021-22) and Diane Crossey (2020-21). The award was established in honor of Professor Emerita Sarah A. Burnett, who taught in the psychological sciences at Rice for 40 years and was also the Dean of Students and the Vice President for Student Affairs during her time at the university.
“The fact that Sport Management professors have won in three of the last six years of the Sarah A. Burnett Teaching Prize is a testament to the caliber of our faculty,” Haptonstall says. “Our professors know how to connect with our students to impact them both during their time at Rice and as they begin their careers in sports.”
Molly (Mohr) Bruni '15 is a proud Rice Sport Management alumna and freelance editor and writer. Find her at mollybruni.com.