Experts: Final Four in Indianapolis April 4 and 6
March 16, 2015
FINAL FOUR @ INDIANAPOLIS EXPERTS
Tourism advantages for Indianapolis
Jonathon Day, associate professor, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Day can talk about the tourism advantages for Indianapolis with the Final Four tournament. Day had more than 20 years experience in tourism and destination marketing before joining Purdue. His research interests are destination branding, sustainable tourism and hospitality practices.
CONTACT: gjday@purdue.edu
News Service contact: Judith Barra Austin, 765-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu
The tournament and the workplace
Ellen Kossek, professor, Krannert School of Management. Kossek is an expert on work/life issues. In particular, she can discuss interest in the NCAA tournament in the workplace, including whether employers should let employees watch early-round daytime games at work. Kossek is president of the national Work/Family Researchers Network. Here is a link to a news tip on the tournament and the workplace:
Related news release: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2014/Q1/5-reasons-to-bring-ncaa-tournament-into-the-workplace.html
CONTACT: ekossek@purdue.edu
News Service contact: Judith Barra Austin, 765-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu
College sports, PR, advertising and naming rights
Josh Boyd, associate professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication, focuses on corporate rhetoric including sponsorships, advertising and public relations. He can discuss stadium and athletic facility naming rates for professional and collegiate sports. He also has attended various early round tournament sites during 20 of the 22 past tournaments.
CONTACT: boyd@purdue.edu
News Service contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Safety and security issues with sporting events
Eric Dietz, director of the Purdue Homeland Security Institute and professor of computer and information technology, can discuss continuous improvement in security delivery including line management, crowd control, guest screening, first responder resource allocation, venue evacuation and mathematical modeling of the process to better predict resource needs. Dietz was the founding executive director for The Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
CONTACT: jedietz@purdue.edu
News Service contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Sports history and the appeal of the underdog, rivalries and sports in Indy
Randy Roberts, distinguished professor of history, focuses on American and sports history and he can discuss college sports, college rivalries, race and civic issues in sports and sports traditions in different cities. He also can talk about the origins of the term March Madness during the 1973-74 season when the UCLA streak ended. He is the author of more than 30 books and has made more than 50 appearances on television documentaries and films in the past 20 years for the History Channel, ESPN Classic, and other networks.
CONTACT: rroberts@purdue.edu
News Service contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
