Derek Van Rheenen, "American Sports, Culture, and Education"

Derek Van Rheenen, UC Berkeley Director of the Athletic Study Center, Ph.D in Interdiciplinary Studies, Masters in Education, Undergrad in German UC Berkeley. Lecturer in courses in American Studies and in the School of Education. Areas of interests include: intersections of academics and athletics, sport and American culture, and the history of intercollegiate athletics.

Derek Van Rheenen's research interests include literacy development in non-school settings, the connections between sports and learning, and the history of intercollegiate athletics in the American university system. A former Academic All-American and professional soccer player, Van Rheenen teaches courses on sport, culture, and education.

In 1998 he received the Outstanding Dissertation Award in the Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley. He coordinates Bay Area Project Teamwork, an after-school literacy and sports program in Richmond, California. His recent publications include "Academic Motivation and the Student Athlete," (with M. V. Covington, et al., 1999); "The Dilemma of the Student Athlete: Balancing Athletics and Academics," a report to the Vice Chancellor for Business and Administrative Services, UC Berkeley (with Herbert D. Simons, 1998); and "Boys Who Play Hopscotch: The Historical Divide of a Gendered Space," in the Children's Folklore Review(1998).