Boise State University is set to offer student-athletes and all enrolled students a new academic credential beginning in fall 2026 — a Sport Impact Certificate developed through the School for the Digital Future. The program treats athletic experience as the foundation for transferable career skills, placing Boise State at the forefront of a national movement to recognize sport as a performance-based academic discipline.
A New Academic Path Built on Athletic Experience
The certificate program draws a deliberate distinction from traditional sports management degrees. Rather than focusing on the business side of athletics, the Sport Impact Certificate centers on the personal and professional lessons athletes gain through competition, practice, and performance. Clinical assistant professor Mark Woychick, who is leading the effort within the School for the Digital Future, frames it as an extension of how other performance-based disciplines already function in higher education.
Music students earn credit by performing. Theatre students build academic portfolios from their work on stage. Woychick and his colleagues in the Sports Major Collective — a national group of academic and sports leaders reexamining how universities engage with athletics — argue that athletes deserve the same opportunity to convert their lived experience into academic currency and workforce preparation.
“I’ve talked to some student athletes about this and the enthusiasm has been pretty high,” Woychick said. “We ran a special topics version of one of the courses in the Sport Impact Certificate, and that got very good feedback.”
The reflective component of the program is intentional. Woychick emphasizes that the most instructive moments in athletics are often the hardest ones. “You learn more from the things that don’t go your way,” he said. “You learn more from a loss than a win, but only if you think about it.”
Employer Interest and Student Demand Drive the Initiative
The program isn’t only appealing to students. Employers have taken notice of the skill set that competitive athletes tend to develop — traits like discipline, coachability, and the ability to function within a team structure under pressure.
“[Student-athletes] are used to being coached,” Woychick said. “Discipline, teamwork, coachability…those qualities are things employers are looking for.”
That employer interest aligns with what surveys are showing among student-athletes themselves. A 2025 survey of NCAA student-athletes found that more than 90 percent expressed interest in an academic program directly connected to their athletic participation — a statistic that suggests significant unmet demand across college campuses nationwide.
Boise State is entering this space at a formative moment. As of fall 2026, three sport performance majors and a minor will be active at universities across the country, in addition to Boise State’s new certificate offering. At least six more institutions are currently in the process of developing their own programs.
National Momentum Behind the Sports Major Collective
The groundwork for the Boise State certificate included a high-profile gathering earlier this year. In spring 2026, the university hosted members of the Sports Major Collective alongside representatives from 16 other universities for the Sports Major Symposium, held on Boise State’s well-known blue artificial turf. Attendees heard directly from athletes, compared notes on the academic-athletics relationship, and examined what a formalized academic structure around sport could look like at their respective institutions.
Woychick’s work with the Collective reflects a broader rethinking of how universities can serve student-athletes beyond eligibility and scholarships. The Boise State initiative is structured to grow over time — if the certificate gains traction, it could eventually become part of a stackable certificate major, with future coursework building on the concept of sport as a legitimate performance-based academic area of study.
Boise State has been in the news recently for other academic developments as well. Earlier this year, the university faced disruptions to final exams following a reported cyberattack on the Canvas learning platform, a reminder of how dependent modern academic infrastructure has become on digital systems — a concern that falls squarely within the School for the Digital Future’s broader mission.
What Comes Next for Interested Students
The Sport Impact Certificate is open to all Boise State students, not only those who compete on varsity athletic teams. The program launches with the fall 2026 semester. Students interested in enrolling or learning more are encouraged to reach out to a student success advisor within the School for the Digital Future.
For Ada County families with students at Boise State or considering enrollment, the new certificate represents an expanding range of career-focused academic options at Idaho’s flagship metropolitan university. Readers interested in how educational institutions across the Treasure Valley are adapting to student needs may also want to follow coverage of new school construction in West Ada as local districts work to meet growing demand.