Dr. Haylee Uecker Mercado received her Ph.D. (2008) from Florida State University. Prior to getting her Ph.D., Mercado worked for the athletic department at Old Dominion University as the director of promotions during the construction and opening of the Ted Constant Convocation Center, during which time she was a finalist for Employee of the Year.
Mercado teaches undergraduate courses in sport event management, sport facility management, managing part-time employees and facility operations.
Her research interests and activities lie in the areas of facility sustainability (design, Green practices, and corporate social responsibility) and on the Hispanic or Latino culture; in particular, marketing of sport to the various Hispanic subcultures based on both generation and acculturation levels. This includes socialization into and through sport, motives for attending sporting events, sport values, and levels of sport and team attachment. Mercado's research has been presented at conferences including the Sport Marketing Association, IAVM and NASSM, and EASM. In 2009, Haylee was the only academic named to the IAAM Sustainability Committee. In 2015, she was named Dean Harry Varney Teacher of the Year.