Umer Hussain awarded for dissertation work at Texas A&M University

Umer Hussain, assistant professor of business and sports management, was the winner in the Social Sciences category of the 2021-2022 Distinguished Dissertation Award from Texas A&M University. He completed his Ph.D. in health and kinesiology (sport management) from Texas A&M in May 2021.

His dissertation, “Unconventional Means to Enhance Muslim Women’s Inclusion in Sports,” investigates – in three separate studies – the means through which Muslim women’s access to sports, as both participants and consumers, can be enhanced.

The first two studies show that Muslim women have more access to and better experiences in sports outside the traditional Western paradigm, including eSports and those specific to the Indian subcontinent: Kho-Kho and Kabaddi. His third set of studies focuses on Muslim women as sport consumers, showing the various factors that influence their purchase decisions. Each of the three studies has been published in high-impact journals.

Texas A&M University will nominate Hussain’s dissertation for the 2022 Distinguished Dissertation Award national competition sponsored by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and ProQuest.

After completing his Ph.D., Hussain did a one-year post-doc in higher education and diversity inclusion at ADVANCE, Texas A&M University. His areas of research include exploring the intersection of race, religion and gender in the sport and digital environment. He has more than nine years of experience in academia and practice, has published numerous scholarly journal articles and presented his research at many scholarly conferences globally.