Cara Lucia

Professor of Sport Management

Long, Office 202C 2350 Campus Box Elon, NC 27244

Professional Expertise

Collegiate Recreation, Community Sport, Facility Operations, Leadership, College Student Development, Curriculum and Assessment

Brief Biography

Dr. Lucia has over 20 years of experience in collegiate recreation and higher education. She served as President for NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation from May 2021 to April 2022. She received her master’s degree in Recreation Administration from Central Michigan University. After receiving her master’s she worked as the Coordinator of Facilities for University Recreation before pursuing a doctoral degree. Dr. Lucia received her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with an emphasis in Higher Education from Virginia Tech where she served as a Graduate Assistant in the Dean of Students Office and as an adjunct faculty at Radford University in the Recreation, Parks and Leisure program. Her first full-time faculty position was for the Sport and Recreation Management program at James Madison University where she taught in the undergraduate program and college student development theory for the campus recreation graduate program. She is now an Associate Professor at Elon University in Sport Management.

News & Notes

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE & STATE UNIVERSITY, Blacksburg, VA

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Higher Education Administration

Dissertation: Development and Validation of the Sense of Competence Scale-Revised

Master of Arts, CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY, Mount Pleasant, MI

Recreation Administration

Research Project: A Profile of Undergraduates and Alumni Work Experience During Their Employment as an Undergraduate for Campus Recreation

Bachelor of Science, ELON UNIVERSITY, Elon, NC

Major: Sport Management

Minor: Business Administration

Employment History

Assistant Professor, Sport and Recreation Management, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

August 2009 – July 2012

Adjunct Faculty, Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism, Radford University, Radford, VA

August 2007 – 2009

Faculty Independent Study, Higher Education Administration, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

January 2008 – April 2008

Graduate Assistant, Orientation, Dean of Students Office, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

August 2006 – May 2009

Coordinator of Facilities, University Recreation, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI

Aug 2003-2006

Courses Taught

SPT 2120 Introduction to Sport and Event Management

SPT 2260 Facility and Venue Management

SPT 2320 Research Methods

SPT 3985 Internship in SEM

SPT 4970 Sport Leadership and Ethics

SPT 4991 Undergraduate Research

COE 3100 Life Entrepreneur

COR 1100 Global Experience

GBL 2450 Barbados Culture, Sport, Media

HNR 4980 Honors Thesis

Leadership Positions

Elon University Appointments

Department Chair, Sport Management (June 2020 - present)

Faculty Fellow for Leadership Education, (August 2018 - April 2020)

Seminar Leader, Center for Engaged Learning’s (CEL) 2017-2019 research seminar on Residential Learning Communities (May 2016 – 2019)

Faculty Director, Danieley Center Neighborhood, Elon University, NC (August 2014 – May 2016)

Chair, Student Life Committee, Elon University, NC (August 2014 – May 2015)

NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation

President, NIRSA Board, 2021-2022

Program Consultant for the NIRSA Annual Conference, NIRSA, 2016 -2017

Program Chair for the NIRSA Annual Conference, NIRSA, 2015 - 2016

Program Chair – Elect for the NIRSA Annual Conference, NIRSA, 2014 – 2015

Co-convener, Leadership Commission, NIRSA, 2012 - 2015

Committee Member, Education Content Review, 2012, 2013

Faculty, NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation, NIRSA, 2011 - 2014

Assembly Member, Assembly, NIRSA, 2010 –2012

Committee Member, Research and Assessment Committee, NIRSA, 2010-2014

Publications

EDITED BOOK

Stenta, D. & McFadden, C. (Eds.) (2015). Student leadership development through recreation and athletics. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

EDITED SPECIAL ISSUE

Benjamin, M., Jessup-Anger, J., Lundeen, S., & Lucia, C. (2020). Residential Learning Communities. Learning Communities Research and Practice, 8(1), Article 1. Retrieved from: https://washingtoncenter.evergreen.edu/lcrpjournal/vol8/iss1/1

BOOK CHAPTERS

Lucia, C. & Molina, D. (In progress). Collegiate recreation. In N. Zhang (Ed.), Rentz’s Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education, 6th ed., (pp. TBD). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Lucia, C. (2021). Sexism. In P. M. Pedersen (Ed.). Encyclopedia of sport management. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

McFadden. C. (2020). Perfect storm. In K. L. Guthrie & D. M. Jenkins (Eds.), Transforming learning: Instructional and assessment strategies for leadership education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

McFadden, C. & Molina, D. (2016). Collegiate recreation. In N. Zhang (Ed.), Rentz’s Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education, 5th ed., (pp. 426-458). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

McFadden, C. & Carr, J. W. (September, 2015). Collegiate recreation student employee as student leader. In D. Stenta & C. W. McFadden (Eds.), Student leadership development through recreation and athletics. (pp. 65-76). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

McFadden, C. & Stenta, D. (September, 2015). Connecting collegiate recreation and athletics to leadership. In D. Stenta & C. W. McFadden (Eds.), Student leadership development through recreation and athletics (pp. 5-18). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

McFadden, C. & Mazeika, M. (2014). Academic and student affairs collaboration. In L.S. Kelsay & E.M. Zamani-Gallaher (Eds.), Working with students in community colleges: Contemporary strategies for bridging theory, research, and practice (pp. 67- 79). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC.

REFEREED ARTICLES

Dabbs, S.M., Weaver, A., Lucia, C., & Kim, Y.D. (2021). Scaffolding service-learning across the curriculum: A case study in sport management. North Carolina Journal.

Lucia, C. & Padgett, M. (2021). Passage through the leadership labyrinth: A woman’s journey in the collegiate recreation profession. Recreational Sports Journal. (pp. 1-13). Sage.

Weaver, T., Forte, D., & McFadden, C. (2017). Perceptions of higher education administrators regarding the role of club sports in the recruitment and retention of male students. Recreational Sports Journal, 41, 42-54. doi: 10.1123/rsj.2016-0023

McFadden, C., Skaggs, G., & Janosik, S. (2013). Development and validation of the sense of competence scale-revised. Journal of Applied Measurement 14(3), 318-331.

O’Bannon, T. & McFadden, C. (2008). A model of experiential andragogy: Development of a non-traditional experiential learning program model. Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism and Recreation Research, 1(1), 23-28.

INDUSTRY BLOGS, PUBLICATIONS, REPORTS, AND VLOGS

Lucia, C. 2021, March 15. Change makers of NIRSA: Sustaining hope through education and research. [Blog/Vlog Post]. Retrieved from https://nirsa.net/nirsa/2022/03/15/march-2022-nirsa-presidents-notes-change-makers-of-nirsa/

Lucia, C. 2021, February 14. Change makers of NIRSA: Ripples of hope. [Blog/Vlog Post]. Retrieved from https://nirsa.net/nirsa/2022/02/14/february-2022-nirsa-presidents-notes/

Lucia, C. 2021, November 9. Change makers of NIRSA: Generations exhibiting critical hope. [Blog/Vlog Post]. Retrieved from https://nirsa.net/nirsa/2021/11/09/nirsa-presidents-notes-november-2021-change-makers/

Lucia, C. (2021). Inclusive excellence in collegiate recreation: How NIRSA is exhibiting action. National Association of College Auxiliary Services. Retrieved from https://www.collegeservicesmagdigital.com/jilq/0321_fall_2021/ MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1724988#articleId1724988

Lucia, C. 2021, August 23. Change makers of NIRSA: Critical hope is hope with action. [Blog/Vlog Post]. Retrieved from https://nirsa.net/nirsa/2021/08/23/nirsa-game-changers-explore-critical-hope-with-president-cara-lucia/

Benjamin, M., Jessup-Anger, J. E., Lundeen, S. & McFadden, C. (2019). Elon statement on residential learning communities as a high-impact practice. Retrieved from http://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/elon-statement-on-residential-learning-communities/

McFadden, C. 2017, December 6. Residential Learning Communities in the Higher Education Environment. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/residential-learning-communities-in-the-higher-education-environment/

McFadden, C. (2016, December 8). A strategy for educating students about the active shooter. Sport Risk: Risk Management Newsletter for Campus Recreation, Retrieved from http://www.sportrisk.com/tag/active-shooter/

Lundeen, S. & McFadden. C. 2016, September 12. Researching residential learning communities. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/researching-rlcs/

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Lucia, C. (2017-present). Friendly Light, Cara Lucia. http://www.friendlylightcaralucia.com/

McFadden, C. (2011). Copyright of the Sense of Competence Scale-Revised (SCS-R) Instrument. Register of Copyrights, United States of America.