Arthur Abruzzo is just a couple of weeks shy of his 70th birthday. On July 25, during the summer commencement ceremony at Troy University, he walked across the stage at Trojan Arena to receive his Ph.D. in Sport Management as his family looked on with pride.
Abruzzo was among the nearly 350 graduates to receive their diplomas on Friday and the lone Ph.D. graduate among the group. But what makes a nearly 70-year-old man who is nearing the end of what he refers to as his “first career” want to take this step at this stage in life?
“That’s a good question,” Abruzzo said. “I love sports. I recognize that I’m ending my first career here in probably six months, and I thought rather than just retiring and doing nothing, the opportunity might arise to do something in a field I love. So, I thought, ‘let me get ahead of that a little bit, find a good online program that I could work at completing while I’m still working.’”
After researching 10 to 12 online programs, Abruzzo decided TROY would be the best fit.
“I did my search and this program at TROY seemed to fit the best,” he said. “The professors seem to be first-class. I looked at 10 or 12 online programs, and the program at TROY seemed to be best of everything. I applied, got in and worked a couple of years through the class work. I got to know Dr. (Robert) Mathner, who was in the field of compliance before he got into education, and moved forward from there.”
Dr. Mathner said that he was impressed with Abruzzo from the start.
“Art has totally dispelled the myth that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks,” Mathner said. “From day one, his humble nature and thirst for knowledge grabbed my attention. As a student in my Organizational Behavior and Leadership course, he always asked the right questions. His experiences in his industry certainly allowed him to understand organizational behavior and leadership and was able to apply those experiences to the sport setting.”
Abruzzo currently serves as a senior compliance analyst for ITC Holdings, an electric utility company in Michigan and laughs at the fact that sport management seems to be such a departure from his current duties. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Kent State University, an MBA in management from the University of Dayton, and a master’s in sports administration from Wayne State University.
Now with his Ph.D. from TROY in hand, he will begin looking for opportunities to put it to use.
“I’m not sure at this point what I am going to do with it, but at least now I have the Ph.D.,” he said. “I could do research, I could be a professor, or I could be a practitioner. I just wanted to get the degree and then figure what to do with it from there. I found this to be a really good program.”
Dr. Mathner spoke highly of Abruzzo’s research and believes he will have opportunities to put the degree to use.
“His research and dissertation topic are groundbreaking and, in many ways, will certainly lead to many published articles in respected journals. Dr. Art will now be most qualified to teach and conduct more research if he chooses to do so,” Mathner said. “I have been so impressed with his willingness to learn, his attention to detail, and his ability to ask great questions. More importantly, I am so proud of him and the journey that he just completed. His family was so supportive and they too, are so very proud of him.”
After spending five years working toward this moment, Abruzzo was determined to be in TROY to receive his degree in person.
“We live in Farmington Hills, Michigan, which is about 25 miles northwest of Detroit. I wanted to be here, and my family is here with me. I spent five years in the program. The last couple took me a little longer than I hoped because I was working, but I’m here today,” he said. “Most of us drove down starting on Wednesday. There were five of us that could drive, so we took turns driving. It was about 13-plus hours, but I wanted to be here to walk across the stage.”
To learn more about the program, visit the Ph.D. in Sport Management website.
