Two University of Ottawa (U of O) human kinetics professors will be lecturers at the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) in Sochi, Russia.
Benoit Séguin and Milena Parent are both associate professors in the Faculty of Health Sciences at U of O and will be joined in Sochi by 17 other experts from 10 different countries, according to a media release from the university.
The Russian university was established in 2009 and is the world’s first university dedicated to the Olympics, according to a statement by the RIOU. It aims to provide sport business education, covering venue and infrastructure management, competition, mass communications, diplomacy and administration, and career management.
Vassil Girginov, academic director of the master of sport administration program at the RIOU, said via email the RIOU was established as a direct legacy of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
“RIOU has been created with the needs of a global sport market in mind as its students come from all five continents,” Girginov said. “Therefore, it was very important that the teaching team on the [master of sport administration program] was made up with not only the world leading experts but was also representative of the different cultures and educational traditions.”
Séguin and Parent will teach students in the sport administration program, which was launched in 2013 to provide experienced executives in the sports industry with an opportunity to improve their understanding of the industry.
Girginov said the two professors were selected because of their track record in the field of Olympic studies and sport business in particular.
Séguin specializes in sport marketing and had his doctorate research funded by the IOC, according to his U of O biography.
Parent’s main area of expertise lies in sport event management, according to her U of O biography. She co-ordinated protocol and language services during the 2010 Olympics.
“Both have published extensively on Olympic marketing, legacies and governance of sport and are well recognized by their peers internationally,” Girginov said. “They have also worked together for a number of years and make a great team which is critical for successful teaching.”
