Sport is a global phenomenon that transcends beyond what we see on the court, field or pitch. It is a driving force that connects individuals around the world. In an ongoing international partnership, Carla Tagliari, a doctoral student from Brazil, recently arrived on the West Virginia University campus to complete a short residency training at the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences.
Tagliari will work under the supervision of Dr. Gonzalo Bravo, CPASS associate professor in sport management, from the spring 2020 semester into the summer. During this time, she will continue working on her dissertation on perceptions of service quality of grassroots participants in southern Brazil.
Tagliari’s stay at WVU is possible through a collaboration between WVU and Universidade Federal do Parana in Curitiba, Brazil. Her trip was sponsored by a grant she received from CAPES-PRINT, a national agency in Brazil that provides support for faculty and doctoral students to complete short residencies overseas.
Tagliari, currently pursuing her Ph.D. at Universidade Federal do Paraná and a full-time employee at the Secretariat of Sport, Leisure and Youth of the Curitiba City Hall, discovered her zeal for sport at an early age. Her entire family was involved with athletics, managing a futsal team in her hometown of Campo Mourão in the state of Parana in southern Brazil. “My family practically lived in sports,” Tagliari said.
During her collegiate studies, Tagliari’s professors encouraged her to make a difference in the lives of others through her teaching. After she returns to Brazil and finishes her Ph.D., she plans to start a career in academia to teach sport management.
While in Morgantown, in addition to working on her service quality project, she will focus on a manuscript on service quality with Bravo. Along with producing valuable research material, Tagliari plans to network with other professors and graduate students within CPASS. “I want to learn as much as possible and I want my experience in Morgantown to be a memorable one,” she said.
Tagliari’ s drive to learn and become a professional is inspired by Brazilian professor, Johnny De Carli, who said “All that deserves to be done, deserves to be well done. If you need things to be different, you need to do so with all your effort.” Tagliari says that this quote offers inspiration to her daily efforts.