Antony, JamesBrowning, Anne2014-10-132014-10-132014-10-132014Browning_washington_0250E_13314.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/26299Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2014At the heart of the academic issues embedded within intercollegiate sports are the tensions between institutional academic prestige, athletic department revenue, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association ’ s (NCAA ’ s) desire to defend the ideals of the amateur student athlete. This qualitative study focuses on the affordances and constraints acting on “ special admits ” in high profile sports during their first year at a University. Participant observation data are triangulated with interviews with seven first-year football players at the beginning, middle, and end of the academic year, and 12 staff members throughout the year. Utilizing “Figured Worlds ” and Activity Theory frameworks, this study explores the role of athlete academic centers as hybrid spaces and addresses a current gap in the literature by developing a systems – level analysis of athlete experiences that incorporates NCAA policy.application/pdfen-USCopyright is held by the individual authors.Academic; Athletics; Intercollegiate; NCAA; Revenue; SportsHigher educationEducation policyEducational administrationeducation - seattleThesis