MURFREESBORO, Tenn.—Dr. Colby B. Jubenville, professor of sport management at Middle Tennessee State University, was selected by the Nashville Business Journal

for its second annual Forty Under 40 special section spotlighting top Nashville-area business leaders under the age of 40 who excel in their industries and show dynamic leadership.

Winners were chosen from a pool of more than 300 names and more than 450 nominations.

At MTSU, Jubenville oversees the graduate sport management academic program and serves as director of the Center for Sport Policy & Research (CSPR), which built and

launched the first online, interactive, reality-based sportsmanship education platform called RealSportsmanship, which is utilized by Sun Belt Conference of the NCAA’s Division I as part of its initiative to focus its athletes and coaches on issues of on-field and off-field ethics and behavior.

In 2008, Jubenville secured private funding for and developed and launched the Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision (JSAS), the first open access, peer-reviewed journal in the academic discipline of sport management.

The journal is designed to connect academic research to the jobs of practitioners and leaders in the sport industry.

Under Jubenville’s leadership since 2001, the MTSU sport management master’s degree program has produced more than 120 graduates.

According to Jubenville, the Forty Under 40 recognition solidifies the role and scope higher education should play in building meaning, purpose, and value within communities and connecting its work to industry.

“An award with such meaning clearly validates both the cutting-edge vision and work done within CSPR, JSAS, and the graduate sport management program at MTSU and shows that those institutions are successfully utilizing the resources of the region to make a national footprint,” Jubenville said.

“Further, it underscores both my personal and professional philosophy of connecting academia and industry, motivating me to continue to try to connect the two institutions in powerful, positive ways.”

Jubenville added, “I appreciate the Nashville Business Journal for recognizing individuals who add value throughout the region, and I’m humbled and excited to accept the award on behalf of the MTSU students and CSPR partners whose hard work created such outstanding collective success.”

Last year’s Forty Under 40 honorees judged this year’s nominations and selected the winners, who will be honored during an awards luncheon in Nashville March 25.

The link for the Forty under 40 Nashville Business Journal can be found at: http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2010/01/25/daily32.html