Faculty Profile

Dr. Synthia Sydnor, faculty in the department’s “cultural, interpretive, and science studies” area, also has appointments in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory; and Illinois Global Institute. She earned her doctorate in interdisciplinary humanities at The Pennsylvania State University. Her scholarship hails from the humanities, focusing on cultural-historical analysis of sport and ritual; and ancient Greek receptions/aftermath in modern physical culture.  Dr. Sydnor’s work appears in journals such as Studies in Symbolic Interaction; Journal of Sport Sociology; Cultural Studies <> Critical Methodologies; and Journal of Curatorial Studies.  She is co-author of To the Extreme: Alternative Sports, Inside and Out; author of a forthcoming book, Social Theory for Sports Lovers; and serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Sport and Social Issues; and The Ethnographic Edge.  A National Endowment for the Humanities scholar (Periklean Athens); Dr. Sydnor is the recent recipient of Excellence in Online Teaching; and Medical Scholars Program awards.