uOttawa's Telfer School of Management is the first university outside Europe to host MEMOSnorth_eastexternal link, the Executive Masters in Sport Organization Management program with ties to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in its 30-year history.
Telfer's business school welcomes the addition of a prestigious program that will welcome professionals working in the Olympic Movement, national sporting bodies and organizations from across the globe to develop the knowledge required to better manage their organisations.
"When the decision was made to look beyond Europe for a MEMOS host, Telfer and uOttawa became a very attractive option since the university is bilingual," explains Stéphane Brutus, Dean of the Telfer School of Management. "The fact that we are situated in the nation's capital and that two of our strategic pillars aim to achieve a happier and healthier Canada was an advantage to us, as was the fact that Telfer is a world-class business school."
Professor Milena Parent, a full professor specializing in sport (event) governance and strategy at Telfer and cross-appointed to the School of Human Kinetics at the Faculty of Health Sciences - and MEMOS's first female director - will lead the program at Telfer.
Parent's expertise is a natural fit, with her academic research and work focusing on organization theory and strategic management, primarily in the context of major sports events like the Olympic Games. Her work also includes the study of governance and the management of the relationships between organizing committees and their various stakeholders.
"Olympic Solidarity, the sport development and education commission of the IOC, was keen to work with us, which was a feather in our cap. The MEMOS professors voted for it, but Olympic Solidarity was important to the program coming to Telfer," explains Parent.
National bodies are limited to submitting one candidature per country for the MA, with less than half of the over 80 applications for the coveted program accepted yearly. This year's students will begin the academic year in Olympia, Greece, site of the ancient Games, and finish their year at the home of the modern Games at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"Telfer will be welcoming leaders of the Olympic sporting world, from national sporting body presidents, secretaries general, managers and IOC members - people who are making global decisions related to the world of sport," says Parent.
Telfer Nation - the Telfer community - will no doubt take extra pleasure in watching the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this summer knowing a piece of global sport will carry forward to uOttawa next.
The MEMOS executive master's degree will debut this fall.
