Nefertiti Walker
Professor of Sport Management and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Equity for the UMass System | University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA, UNITED STATES
Nefertiti Walker's research centers on sports culture and developing diverse and inclusive cultures in sports and other organizations.
Expertise (7)
Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation in Intercollegiate Sports
Gender in organizations
Gender in sport
Organizational Diversity and inclusion
Sexism in Sports
Sports Culture
Women & Leadership in Sport Organizations
Biography
As a faculty member in Sport Management and Deputy Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and Equity in the University of Massachusetts Office of the President, Nefertiti Walker is a compelling speaker and commentator on a range of issues focused around diversity and inclusion in sports and other organizations.
Walker's 2024 book, "Slaying the Trolls! Why the Trolls are Very, Very Wrong about Women and Sports" provides the arguments and empirical evidence to demonstrate the explosive growth of women's sports..
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Education (3)
University of Florida: Ph.D., Sport Management
Stetson University: M.B.A., Business Administration
Stetson University: B.A., Sport Management
Links (3)
Select Recent Media Coverage (5)
Unrivaled Charts a New Path for Women’s Basketball
The New York Times online
2025-01-17
Nefertiti Walker comments about Unrivaled, a new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league. She notes that the league’s organizers have created a structure for women athletes to take ownership of their future in a way they haven’t been able to before. The players “have come together with their power and their money and influence and said, ‘We’re just going to create something totally different,’” Walker says. “That’s really powerful and probably telling for what the future of women’s sports looks like.”
Basic Black: The future of diversity, equity and inclusion
GBH tv
2023-04-07
Nefertiti Walker was part of a discussion on the future of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in corporate America.Walker said, “DEI is dynamic. It’s constantly changing … It’s not something you can be done and move on from. It’s going to live forever within your institution and organization, similarly to your budget and human resources and other aspects of your business.”
Pretty in Any Color: Women on the Court Make the Style Rules
The New York Times online
2022-07-25
Nefertiti A. Walker, an associate professor in sports management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a former college basketball player, said players didn’t necessarily feel as if they had to fit the usual standards. “What you’re seeing is certainly athletes now who, because of the changes we’ve seen in college sport — they all have pride nights, there’s gay marriage now — all these changes that have happened in their lifetime that signal it might be OK to perform their gender in a different way,” she said.
Black women caught where sexism and racism intersect
Minnesota Spokeman-Recorder print
2020-11-04
Black women too often are both misunderstood and marginalized compared to their White counterparts. Dr. Nefertiti Walker calls this “intersectionality.” “The reason why I use intersectionality to view issues and organizations in society is because it forces you to talk about how people are marginalized,” said Walker, UMass Amherst vice chancellor and chief diversity officer.
What Do The Charges In South Florida Mean For Robert Kraft And The NFL?
WGBH radio
2019-03-05
Nefertiti Walker says New England Patriot fans have good reason to be confused about how to react to reports that Robert Kraft has been charged with soliciting prostitution at a spa in South Florida. “Especially if you’re a fan of the Patriots, you have this idea that everyone’s doing their job, they’re good people, they’re high character folks, they do things in the community,” she says. That gets called in question by incidents such as Kraft’s arrest on these charges, she says.
Select Publications (2)
Slaying the Trolls! Why the Trolls are Very, Very Wrong About Women and Sports |BOOK
Kendall Hunt Publishing CompanyNefertiti Walker and David Berri
2024-05-10
"Slaying the Trolls! Why the Trolls are Very, Very Wrong about Women and Sports" provides the arguments and empirical evidence to dispel false claims about the popularity and growth of women's sports.
Reculture sport – the shifting culture of sport
SportBusinessNefertiti Walker
2020-09-01
"Through my research, industry partnerships, and teaching, my goal remains the same: to leave the culture of sport better than how I found it. For much of the past decade, my research has centered on sport culture. I have conducted research in collaboration with espnW and Dr Nicole Melton in which we examined the role of inclusion in college athletics. ..."
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