Sport for Development and Peace

Robert E. Baker is a professor and director of the School of Sport Recreation and Tourism Management and the Center for Sport Management at George Mason University. He has served as president of the North American Society for Sport Management, as a founding commissioner of the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation, and a founding board member of the World Association of Sport Management. Dr. Baker has received NASSM’s Distinguished Sport Management Educator Award and NASPE’s Outstanding Achievement in Sport Management Award. In addition to numerous books and peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Baker has served as the principal investigator on over $7 million in grants supporting sport diplomacy projects. Craig Esherick is an associate professor of the School of Sport Recreation and Tourism Management and Associate Director of the Center for Sport Management at George Mason University. He has engaged in a cooperative agreement with the US Department of State, SportsUnited, and the Sport Visitors program for seven years. Esherick also participated in the Summer Olympics in 1988 in Seoul, Korea as an assistant coach for the US Men’s Olympic basketball team. Before his move to academia, he was a basketball player and basketball coach at Georgetown University. Pamela Hudson Baker is an associate professor and acting director of the School of Education at George Mason University, where she also directs the division of Special Education and disAbility Research and serves in a dual appointment with the Office of the Provost. In addition to numerous presentations and publications, Dr. Baker has served as an investigator on a variety of state and federal grants to support teacher preparation and sport diplomacy projects with funding in excess of $14 million dollars. Dr. Baker currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) and as chair of the Product Review Committee for CASE.