Small College, World Class Possibilities

An internship working for the Kraft Sports Group? Sure!
“Whatever you can dream up is possible.”  
That’s John Rooke’s message for Dean College students looking to gain great professional insight and experience from the very best.
So far, it seems, he’s a man of his word.
The Director of The Center for Business, Entertainment and Sports Management at Dean College, Rooke, “the voice” of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution, as well as the play-by-play voice of Providence College Basketball, has been able to use his unique skill set to take the school’s exclusive academic partnership with the Kraft Sports Group, the holding company for 5-time Superbowl Champion New England Patriots, to new levels.
“A year and a half ago, when I came here, I had this blob of clay, my amoeba,” laughs Rooke, who had taught at Emerson college for 10 years and had jumped at a chance to continue to teach as well as to “create something from the ground up.
“I think I can see it starting to take shape. It’s really going to be beneficial for students, especially for those students that will get into the marketplace with a baccalaureate 4-year degree,” he says.
The Center has established numerous opportunities for Dean College students to gain insight from Patriots and Revolution executives, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Dean College students have participated in both paid and unpaid, credit- and non-credit-based internships within these organizations, gaining access to stadium facilities, and exclusive behind-the-scenes involvement with such experiences as player interaction at Training Camp and involvement in the NFL opening ceremony.
“First and foremost, there’s not another professional franchise like the partnership with a professional football team and a school,” says Rooke. Although the University of Denver has a relationship with the Broncos and its athletic training department, Dean’s partnership, says Rooke, “goes much deeper and further than athletic training.” The partnerships encompass sports management, venue management, sports communications, business management and more. “It touches every academic entity we have here at Dean College,” says the Director, who also teaches as a member of the faculty and as distinguished executive faculty in Dean’s School of Business.
Rooke notes that for a small New England liberal arts college like Dean, in Franklin, Mass. to offer these experiences adds an ultra competitive edge in Arts and Entertainment Management (AMGT), Business Management, Communications, Security Management, Sport Management and Sports Fitness, Recreation and Coaching.
Rooke is always on the lookout for new ways to partner students, who are required to complete an internship before they graduate, with local businesses.
In addition to the one internship per term with the Kraft Sports Group and two internships per term with the New England Revolution, for example, “We also have an immersive internship with some of the businesses at Patriot Place,” says Rooke. With the Renaissance and Hilton Garden Inn, for example, students can learn the basics of hotel management.
The Center has a partnership with WEEI Sports Radio, where Rooke has worked, as well as the Providence Bruins, the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Boston Cannons. Closer to home, Rooke has been busy building relationships with the community, involving students in community service projects, including a playground build; and a partnership with Dean’s campus security firm.
“Bigger campuses are not everyone’s cup of tea,” says Rooke, who adds that sometimes, a 1,200-student facility can provide hands-on opportunities for which students at bigger universities must wait their turn. Dean, he says, is “small enough where we can get to know our students, but big enough that students can be themselves. Students can carve a niche into what it is they want.”
Now, with the addition of the partnerships The Center provides, Rooke says, “Good lord! Where was this 40 years ago when I was looking for a school?”