Yonghwan Chang, PhD, School of Kinesiology assistant professor in sport management, has been recognized as a 2019 North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) Research Fellow. This designation recognizes NASSM’s scholars by honoring their achievements in sport-related scholarship disseminated through NASSM. Being recognized as a NASSM Research Fellow is intended to be a distinction within NASSM and Fellows’ and other academic communities, and is intended to encourage high standards of research and other forms of scholarship among NASSM’s members.

“I wanted to apply for the NASSM Research Fellow Award because it is the only research distinction given by the field’s largest professional society,” Chang said. “I have such caring colleagues and mentors surrounding me in the School of Kinesiology. It would have been impossible without their support. I can’t even begin to express my thanks for their mentorship and guidance!”

Chang has been with the University of Minnesota since 2017. His research interests are sport marketing and consumer behavior, with an emphasis on experiential consumption and sport sponsorship.

Chang aims to provide an improved understanding of consumers’ decision-making processes as well as the benefits and values of sport experiences. He explores a variety of experiential consumption areas such as luxury services, spectator sports, and social media. The primary objective of his sport sponsorship research is to identify the complex network of brand associations stored in consumers’ memory in order to optimize desirable consumption outcomes.

“We want to congratulate Dr. Chang on this major accomplishment,” said Beth Lewis, director of the School of Kinesiology. “It is a high honor and it incredible that Dr. Chang has already received this distinction so early in his career.