Sam W. Straus is an educator and facilitator who joined the Center for the Study of Sport in Society in February 2017 as the Associate Director of Programs. In this role, Sam helps the Center develop programs that further its social justice mission. He is responsible for designing and facilitating the Center’s racial justice and gender-based violence prevention curriculum, organizing community engagement events, coordinating the Center’s partnership activities, and managing the Center’s finances and operations.

As a former baseball player, Olympic lifter, and Crossfit athlete, Sam has seen the ways in which sport can either perpetuate, or begin to break down, racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other systems of oppression. He is dedicated to using his privilege to work towards dismantling ideologies of hate and institutional inequities, and supporting the growth of communities built on love and justice.

In addition to his work with the Center, Sam serves as an Adjunct Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and as a fellow with the Systemic Justice Project at Harvard Law School. He is also an avid basketball and flag football player, and a graduate of the Harvard Law School and the University of California San Diego.