Matt Bowers

The head and torso of Matt Bowers, a white man with a brown mustache and beard, smiling in a teal button up shirt.

Associate Professor of Instruction

Initiative Focus

Dr. Matt Bowers is an Associate Professor of Instruction in Sport Management at the University of Texas at Austin. He studies youth development in and through sports and has published research studies related to the impact of sport participation on creativity and the value of sandlot/unstructured sports for children. His work has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Wired, The Atlantic, and Wall Street Journal, SXSW, and the Aspen Institute’s Sport for All, Play For Life: A Playbook to Get Every Kid in the Game. He has been an advisory board member and one of the co-lead researchers for the Aspen Institute’s Healthy Sport Index project, an advisory board member for the Aspen Institute’s Reimagining School Sports project, and a member of the Science Board for the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. He also currently serves as an advisor for SXSW.

Orange and Teal PTF Logo

Gone (Back) To Texas: A Model For Alumni-led Experiential Learning

Cohort
2022
Fellow(s)

As the campus community enters a new post-pandemic era, it is clear that one of the most urgent needs following 2+ years of remote and hybrid learning is to create poignant, relevant contexts for pursuing immersive experiential learning. As universities reckon with the challenge of continuing to evolve their value propositions to meet student demand for more industry-relevant experiences, there is an opportunity to innovate how we design and deliver unique pedagogical experiences that connect more deeply with their educational and professional journey.