Students will travel to Tokyo during the 2020 Olympic Games and will learn how to apply functional business and sports management knowledge and analysis skills in the context of an Olympic host city.

Students must be willing to return early from the winter holiday break in early January 2020 for a Queens in Tokyo training camp focused on technology, teaming, and key techniques. The two-day camp enables one additional credit hour in the JBIP course, completed before the official beginning of the semester on Jan. 6, 2020.

During the spring semester, students will be required to study, understand, and troubleshoot various aspects of global mega sports events and their impact on a city (operations, small group dynamics, cross-cultural collaboration, marketing, impact on small business, real estate, etc.) and deliverables that explain what they have learned to others. They will collaborate virtually with students in Japan to further enhance their understanding of the course topic in a cross-cultural context.

Traveling abroad in July/August 2020, students will collaborate on teams with Japanese students, using the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a filter to articulate similarities and differences with their own cultural norms. In carefully selected and guided small teams, students will prepare undergraduate analytical research on the impact of global sports events as a way to understand the perspective on Tokyo residents and businesses.*

As part of the application process, students must upload a resume and/or portfolio that demonstrates their preparation for the program and will interview with the faculty directors. The portfolio could include stories, projects, research, papers, multimedia development, and/or proposals for projects you would like to explore in Tokyo.

This course may be most appropriate for students interested in Analysis, Business, Sports Management, Kinesiology, Sociology, Psychology, and related majors who enjoy the challenge of evaluating the impacts of major events on cities and societies. Students should be comfortable traveling through a large city in a small group.

This course will work alongside COM 398-399 who are also travelling to Tokyo. Some topics will overlap so students will be exposed to multimedia production and journalism.

The academic course associated with this program is BUS 398 and 399/KIN 398 and 399: Queens in Tokyo – The Business of Olympics for 5 total credits. Students will elect to receive BUS or KIN credit. It will be taught by Professors Beth Schneider and Robert Lyons.

SPRING course/JULY & AUGUST travel

This is a SELECTIVE program.
*all itinerary items are tentative and subject to change