Dr. Hums' curriculum vitae [PDF]
Mary A. Hums holds a Ph.D. in Sport Management from Ohio State University, an M.A. in Athletic Administration as well as an M.B.A. from the University of Iowa, and a B.B.A. in Management from the University of Notre Dame. In 2024, Hums received the Betty van der Smissen Leadership Award from the Sport and Recreation Law Association, the organization’s highest professional honor. In 2009, she was selected as the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) Earle F. Zeigler Lecturer, the organization’s most prestigious academic honor. In 2014, she received the NASSM Diversity Award and also the Southern Sport Management Association Sport Management Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award. She has twice been invited to White House events - the 2015 White House Presidential Reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 2014 White House Summit and Research Forum on Improved Health and Fitness for Americans with Disabilities.
In 2008, Hums was an Erasmus Mundus Visiting International Scholar at Katholische Universitat in Leuven, Belgium. In 2006, she was selected by the then United States Olympic Committee to represent the United States at the International Olympic Academy Educators Session in Olympia, Greece. She volunteered for the 1996 Summer Paralympic Games in Atlanta, 2002 Winter Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City, 2010 Winter Paralympic Games in Vancouver, and the 2015 Para-Pan American Games in Toronto. In 2004, she moved to Athens, Greece, working both the Olympic (Softball) and Paralympic (Goalball) Games.
She has written over 175 refereed journal articles and book chapters and has made over 200 presentations to various scholarly associations both in the United States and abroad. Her main research interest is policy development in sport organizations, especially in regards to inclusion of people with disabilities and also sport and human rights. She was a co-contributor to Article 30.5 of the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As an advocate for people with disabilities in sport, Hums has played a role in advancements including Major League Baseball changing the name of the Disabled List to the Injured List, establishing the ESPYs for Best Male and Female Athletes with a Disability, and establishing the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.
Prior to coming to the University of Louisville, Hums served on the Sport Management faculty at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, directed the Sport Management Program at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, and was the Athletic Director at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, IN.
Hums is a monogram letter winner in Field Hockey at the University of Notre Dame. She is a 1996 inductee in the ASA Indiana Softball Hall of Fame and a 2009 inductee into the Marian High School (Mishawaka, IN) Athletic Hall of Fame.
