For Clinical Assistant Professor Mark Woychick, sport isn’t just something that happens on the field. It’s a powerful way to understand teamwork, identity and impact — and now, a pathway for Boise State students to earn academic credit.
Next fall, Woychick will help launch the new Sport Impact certificate, which uses sport as a lens for students to explore who they are, what they care about and how they want to show up on a team and in their communities. The certificate is open to all students, not just student-athletes, and focuses on translating lived experience into career-ready skills and high-functioning teams.
“I have many student-athletes in my courses, and their sport requires as much work as a full-time job,” Woychick said. “They’re committing 40-plus hours a week to something other than school, and often balancing family and jobs, too. This is an opportunity to recognize that work and apply the “learning by doing”.
The Sport Impact certificate is part of Boise State’s involvement in the Sports Major Collective, a group of universities working to treat sport as a performance-based academic field, similar to dance, theater or art. Boise State will host the collective’s second Sports Studies Symposium in March — and the first gathering in the West. Long term, Woychick hopes the certificate will be the first in a stack of offerings that could one day support a sports performance major in collaboration with other departments on campus.
While the sports-focused work is gaining momentum, Woychick is also leading the Making Big Ideas Happen certificate, launched this fall. It’s designed for students who don’t just want to imagine change, but want to drive it.
“Ideas are cheap,” he said. “This is about how you actually make something happen and bring others along. We all have a say in what kind of future we want for ourselves, our families and our communities.”
Woychick’s teaching is grounded in practical application. After a 17-year career at HP in roles across customer service, sales, IT and operations, he brings real workplace problems into the classroom. He designs assignments that mirror what students will see “in the wild,” and builds courses around meaningful projects.
“With authorship comes ownership,” he said. “When students choose the projects they’re doing, it’s something they care about — and something they can carry with them long after the class ends.”