Graduate Certificates | IAAS

Online Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success

The University of Mississippi’s online Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success positions you to empower student athletes and help them tackle challenges unique to their situation. This four-course, entirely online course of study held in an accelerated format highlights the skills essential for starting a career in athletic academic advising and support. In the process, you’ll not only benefit from the University of Mississippi’s legacy in championing student athletics, but you’ll become thoroughly familiar with the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s (NCAA’s) academic reform measures.

Think about the typical student athlete. They’ve trained for years to get where they are, yet their future could take several shapes—from going professional in their sport, training and coaching aspiring athletes, or another path for which a bachelor’s degree is required. At the college or university level, these individuals juggle multiple responsibilities—practices and training, a season of games, academics, and oftentimes conditions for a scholarship. Among these many factors, an athletic advisor, counselor, or mentor guides their progress—both toward current academic and athletic demands and exploring all the possibilities for their future.

About the Online Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success

Whether you were a student athlete yourself, you’re in a position where you advise and mentor diverse college and university populations, or you’re searching for a career where you can get involved with college or university athletics, the online Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success serves to specialize your skills to assist students, understand their complex needs, and introduce the elements of student-athlete academic eligibility.

Through this lens, the program:

Exposes you to how NCAA academic reforms shape the structure and direction of advising student athletes and covers key eligibility rules and issues often experienced at the Division I level
Is taught by Ole Miss athletic directors, who weave their real-world insights into the coursework
Introduces you to the structure and processes of NCAA governance, including for college and university athletic departments
Touches on ethical and other current issues present in the athletic academic advising field
Requires all students to acquire and demonstrate an understanding of the NCAA’s Academic Reform and Academic Performance Program (APP), including strategies and intervention methods for achieving related benchmarks

Curriculum

The online Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success requires 12 credit hours of coursework. An accelerated structure allows for a degree of flexibility: students can complete all requirements in as few as a semester or within two years.

Courses cover such role- and environment-specific topics as:

The founding and formation of the NCAA, its governance and processes, and its role in college and university athletics
The responsibilities and purpose of athletic academic advising and current career paths
Initial-eligibility and progress-toward-degree rules for student athletes, including how to prepare these individuals for the modern workforce, their defining characteristics, and specific scenarios you may encounter on the job
The NCAA APP and the standards for and differences between Federal Graduate Data, Graduation Success Rate, and Academic Performance Rates
NCAA APP-rooted techniques for developing academic improvement plans

Review the structure and all required courses for the online Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success.

Careers

For those currently or interested in a career in collegiate sports, this online certificate program enhances and refines your skill set for a role supporting student athletes.

You’ll be in a position to ensure that student athletes at NCAA Division I through III levels, as well as in junior college and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics leagues, thrive on the court or field and in the classroom. Guide their academic, social, athletic, and career development so that players graduate with a clear path toward their future, and understand how to create improvement plans to keep them on track toward these goals.

Potential job titles include:

Athletic academic advisor
Learning specialist
Mentor
Tutor

Learn more about potential career paths related to the Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success.

Admission

Thinking about a career uplifting and guiding student athletes? The online Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success is open to candidates who have earned at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Review all requirements before completing your application.

You don’t have to wait a full semester to begin learning about the specific needs of student athletes. The program has five start dates throughout the year: January, March, May, August, and October. Apply 2 weeks before desired term.

Transition to the M.S. in Sport and Recreation Administration Program

The IAAS Graduate Certificate can help you reach your short-term goals, but a graduate degree is often preferred for leadership roles in the sport industry.

The IAAS Graduate Certificate can be a stepping stone to future success.

Students who complete the online IAAS Graduate Certificate can apply their certificate courses toward our on-campus M.S. in Sport and Recreation Administration degree.
To take advantage of this opportunity, students must first complete their IAAS Graduate Certificate, then apply and be admitted into the M.S. in Sport and Recreation Administration (MSRA) program.
Once admitted to the MSRA program, students will need to meet all remaining requirements for the M.S. degree.

Students cannot be enrolled in both the IAAS Graduate Certificate Program and the Sport and Recreation Administration Graduate program at the same time.

Interested in the M.S. in Sport and Recreation Administration?

Learn to oversee sports facilities and events in intercollegiate and professional settings.

Check out our on-campus M.S. in Sport and Recreation Administration

Prepare to Support and Advise Student Athletes Through the Ole Miss Online Certificate Program

Learn more about this student demographic to help them plot out their futures and meet all current athletic and academic demands. For more information about the online Certificate in Intercollegiate Athletics Academic Success, reach out to Megan Black (meblack@olemiss.edu) if you have questions or would like to schedule a meeting.