New Endowed Position Honors Lisa Masteralexis

The first endowed professorship in the McCormack Department of Sport Management was established this year as part of the department’s 50th anniversary celebration, and it will be named the Lisa Pike Masteralexis ’87 Endowed Professorship. The naming honors Senior Associate Dean Masteralexis, who has been a sport management faculty member since 1990 and who served as the department’s longest-tenured chair.

“Lisa Masteralexis was instrumental in securing our multi-faceted relationship with the McCormack family which led to the naming of our program, and she has played a special role in the lives and careers of so many of our students and alumni,” says Steve McKelvey, McCormack’s current department chair. “We are delighted and proud that this endowed position will be named for her.”

The $1.5 million professorship came together with commitments from a small group of alumni close to Masteralexis, the McCormack family, and matching funds from Douglas '71 and Diana Berthiaume.

“Clearly Lisa has made a lasting impact on so many of our McCormack students, as well as alumni lives and careers, that they felt compelled to support an endowed professorship in her name," says Isenberg’s Dean, Anne Massey. “I am always delighted to see how engaged the community is and this gift highlights a strong commitment to helping the department maintain and enhance its reputation for cutting-edge research and innovative curricula that changes lives.”

A faculty recipient of the award will be named in 2026. Endowed positions are an important part of Isenberg’s priority to sustain faculty excellence by allowing the school to retain and recruit the best teachers and scholars and support their research and teaching activities. Masteralexis, who earned her bachelor’s degree in sport management at UMass Amherst in 1987, also has a law degree from Suffolk University Law School, and has taught sport law to McCormack students at all levels along with publishing regularly on law and labor relations in the sport industry.

“I am deeply honored by this named professorship,” Masteralexis says. “I am grateful for the gifts of relationships I’ve built with our alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the department. This recognition is beyond what I would have ever expected.”