Joseph N. Cooper is Assistant Professor in Sport Management in the Department of Educational Leadership and Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. His research agenda focuses on the intersection between race, gender, sport, education, and culture with an emphasis on sport involvement as a catalyst for holistic development and cultural empowerment. He is the founding faculty member of Collective Uplift, an organization designed to educate, empower, support, and inspire Black athletes to maximize their full potential as holistic individuals both within and beyond athletic contexts. He has presented his research at various international, national, and regional conferences and published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, edited books, and op-ed contributions. He received the 2009 John E. Billing Outstanding Graduate Research Merit Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Department of Exercise and Sport Science), 2016 Outstanding Early Career Scholar Award from the UConn Neag School of Education, 2016 UConn African American Cultural Center Extraordinaire Faculty Award, and 2016 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Harvey E. Beech Black Alumni Reunion Young Alumni Award, and the 2018 Sociology of Sport Journal Early Career Research Award. He has been cited in media outlets such as New York Times, Le Monde, ESPN, ABC News, and Yahoo.