Joy DeSensi, Chancellor’s Professor Emerita of sports management at the University of Tennessee, died on April 1 in Knoxville. She was 71 years old and had suffered from cancer.
Dr. DeSensi was a graduate of West Liberty University in Wheeling, West Virginia, where she majored in physical education and Spanish. She was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team competing in the sport of rifle. Dr. DeSensi went on to earn a master’s degree in education from the University of Memphis and a Ph.D. in sport philosophy and administrative theory from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Professor DeSensi served on the faculty at the University of Tennessee for nearly 40 years. She served as professor and chair of the department of kinesiology, recreation, and sports studies and as associate dean for the university’s Graduate School. She retired in 2015.
Dr. DeSensi was a past president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport, the National Association for Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education, and the Southern Academy of Women in Physical Activity, Sport and Health. She was the co-author of Ethics and Morality in Sport Management (Fitness Information Technology, 3rd edition, 2010).