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Kiernan Gordon, Ph.D., assistant professor of sport and recreation management in the Department of Business, has been named a research fellow by the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4).

Based at the University of Southern Mississippi, NCS4 is the world’s leading academic research institution in addressing sports safety and security risks and threats. Since its inception in 2006, the center has played a critical role in helping the ever-growing U.S. sports industry through thought leadership, professional development, laboratory evaluations, academic research, and sponsorship of industry and academic forums. 

NCS4 has become the primary resource in the nation for practitioners and academics who work with, study, and develop security personnel, processes, and related technologies for the protection of sport venues, Gordon said.

“I feel incredibly privileged to be recognized in this way by NCS4,” expressed Gordon. “I look forward to working with my research fellow colleagues in future conversations and research initiatives to further protect sport and leisure venues — and those who attend them — in the U.S. and around the world.”

Gordon’s research examines the role that emotion plays in sport spectators’ consumption of sport venue and related products. 

This focus includes a strong emphasis on the influence of security protocol and related technologies on the sport consumer experience, Gordon said, as well as emphases on sport venue design, fan behavior, and heritage sport tourism. 

Gordon has presented at several international and national conferences, including the annual meetings for the North American Society for Sport Management, the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interactionism, and the American Sociological Association.