Matt Hodler recently earned his PhD in Health & Sport Studies from the University of Iowa. He views sport as a way to make sense of everyday lived experiences and societal inequalities. Matt earned his BA in sociology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where he swam and then bartended. After four years of working in the bar & restaurant business, he went back to school to earn his MA in sociology from UNC-Greensboro. His thesis was a study of the connections between national identity and sport where he interviewed Olympic swimmers about their experiences. His dissertation, The Greatest Olympian of All-Time? The Ideological Implications of Celebrating Michael Phelps, utilizes Michael Phelps and the sport of swimming as a point of entry to investigate the relationships between and among sport, national identity, constructions of race, and economic relationships.

His other research interests include Scottish sport and culture, sport films, and the Olympics. In his free time, Matt enjoys learning to play squash, watching 1990s television, or figuring out how to get his next fix of North Carolina BBQ. For the next 5 months he can be reached at matthew-hodler@uiowa.edu. He has a low-energy twitter presence (@MHodler).

You can view an archive of his posts here.