With the Olympic Games underway in Rio de Janeiro, LMU professors are prepared to offer insights on a range of issues, including the challenges facing host city Rio, athletes’ fitness regimens, sponsorship and marketing efforts and more. Email news@lmu.edu or call our Media Line, 310.258.4636, to request an interview with these and other LMU faculty members:
Christopher Finlay
Assistant Professor of Communication Studies
College of Communication and Fine Arts
Finlay specializes in digital media/social media; the Olympics and international sports communication; and American and Canadian politics. He can comment on the political and diplomatic implications of Rio as a host city (addressing the Zika virus, local violence, protests and readiness of facilities), athletes and social media, nationalism, Olympics security, and the dynamics at play between the organizations who collaborate to bring together the Olympics. Finlay has been interviewed by CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, CCTV in China and CBC in Canada, and written about the Olympics for the Huffington Post.
Hawley C. Almstedt
Professor of Health and Human Sciences
Seaver College of Science and Engineering
Almstedt, who earned a doctorate in exercise physiology, specializes in sports nutrition and bone health and can offer insights about the athletes’ fitness regimens, training, endurance and exercise programs. A former collegiate gymnast and gymnastics judge, she recently attended the USA Gymnastics Olympic Trials in San Jose, where members of the women’s team were selected.
Andrew Rohm
Associate Professor of Marketing
College of Business Administration
Rohm specializes in new media and mobile and social media marketing strategies and can discuss Olympic sponsorships and advertising. He serves on the leadership team of LMU’s M-School Institute of Marketing, and worked previously as sports category director and marketing director at Reebok.
Todd Shoepe
Assistant Professor of Health and Human Sciences
Seaver College of Science and Engineering
Shoepe is an expert in exercise physiology, health and human performance and fitness program management. He can discuss doping and implications of performance enhancing-aids among athletes.
William McCormack
Assistant Professor of Health and Human Sciences
Seaver College of Science and Engineering
McCormack earned his doctorate in exercise physiology and can comment on training and performance for track and field athletes. An expert in sport and exercise science, he has written extensively about high-intensity running and women’s collegiate soccer, endurance exercise and neuromuscular fatigue.
Tom Black
Women’s Volleyball Head Coach
LMU Athletics
Black is an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team. He is in Rio and can comment on the team’s performance and the competition. Black guided LMU to its second NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2015, marking the third trip in the last four years for the Lions, and 13th overall in program history.
