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The Kinesiology major and all the concentrations are accredited by Middle States and are approved programs by the NYS Department of Education. In addition, the Teacher Certification concentration is accredited by NCATE and the Athletic Training concentration is accredited by CAATE. For more information on AKA, go to www.americankinesiology.org.

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Home / KSSPE / News and Events / November 2007

Department of Kinesiology, Sport Studies, and Physical Education (KSSPE)

November 2007

Hi and welcome to the Department of Physical Education and Sport's 3rd annual e-newsletter. This is a very exciting time for our department and we'd like to keep our students, alumni, emeriti faculty and staff, and friends up to date on departmental events.

The newsletter devotes one section to each of the concentrations - athletic training, exercise physiology, physical education teacher certification, adapted physical education, and sport management. There's also a section highlighting some recent outstanding events for faculty and students. If you are a current Brockport student or alumnus, this is a time to be very proud of your alma mater!

This year, we're proud to host the AAHPERD Alliance Scholar, Dr. Jane Clark, Professor and Chair of the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland. Only two colleges in the country were selected to host Dr. Clark and we are truly honored to be one. The Alliance Scholar program identifies one scholar annually to represent AAHPERD to the profession with public presentations. Dr. Clark will speak Tuesday, November 27 at 5 pm in the Seymour ballroom. If you're in the area, please join us. Best of all, Dr. Clark is a The College at Brockport alumna!

The Department will be hosting a second outstanding lecture this fall. Drs. Cesar Torres and Peter Hager are again organizing the annual sport philosophy lecture to be presented on Monday October 29 at 5 pm.

Dr. Danny Rosenberg from Brock University in Canada will speak about "Violence and the Vulnerability Principle in Hockey: Distinctions and Moral Justifications".

These are just a few examples of some of the recent highlights in the department. I also encourage you to explore our Web site. Dr. Reggie Ocansey (who has just retired!) does a terrific job of keeping us current with recently updated links and pictures.

In future e-newsletters, we'd like to highlight successful graduates and "friends" of the department, so if you have news of a particular student, former student, alumni, or emeriti faculty or staff, please let us know at speterse@brockport.edu or (585) 395-5341. Enjoy the rest of the e-newsletter!

Warm regards,

Dr. Susan C. Petersen

Chair, Physical Education and Sport

Adapted Physical Education

by Dr. Lauren Lieberman

The Adapted Physical Education Program hosted former student Chris Ahrens when he visited campus September 20th. Chris is a 2007 graduate of the APE program and is on the US cerebral palsy soccer team. His team won a bid to go to the ParaPan American Games in Brazil this past August where they took 4th place. Chris lives in Olympic housing in Virginia and trains full time with several of his teammates. Chris has vowed that in November when his team returns to Brazil they will fight hard to make the cut to go to Beijing. Said Chris: "I want to hear our national anthem when the flags go up".

We'll all be cheering for Chris and his team in their quest to travel to Beijing and bring home a medal in the Paralympics in 2008.

The Adapted Physical Education Concentration is stronger than
ever with over 150 undergraduate and 45 graduate students enrolled. Our Friday morning Swim & Gym lab program brings to campus over 70 children from the community with a variety of disabilities benefiting from swimming and motor skills each week.

boys in wheel chair race

On Saturdays we host the Rochester Rookies, a track team comprised of children who use wheelchairs coached weekly by our undergraduate and graduate students. Lastly, Camp Abilities had its 12th successful summer program here with over 25 student volunteers in residence for the week. We coordinated seven other Camp Abilities throughout the country, sent three students to the Alaska Camp Abilities, and brought five students to the first-ever Camp Abilities in Ft. Myers, Florida.

We hope to see many of you at the Games for the Physically Challenged and at the NYSAHPERD conference in Syracuse, November 7-10.

Teacher Education

by Dr. Doug Collier

Greetings to all from the Teacher Certification concentration here at The College at Brockport! Fall 2007 is an exciting time here at the college, and there have been many exciting developments in our area. As always, success begins with talented and motivated alumni, students, and faculty.

We're very proud of alumnus Brian Oaks who is the President-elect of NYS AHPERD. This is a wonderful accomplishment and we know that Brian will do excellent work. In the past year alumna Toni Hagerman was selected as the Executive Director of the Eastern District Association of AAHPERD. And, of course, Dr. Jane Clark, is this year's Alliance Scholar! Way to go, alumni!

The teacher certification area is pleased to welcome two new faculty members, Dr. Ferman Konukman and Mr. Dave Berkey. Dr. Konukman comes to us from Central Washington State University, while Dave has worked as an associate faculty member for a number of years in "adventure education". He now assumes a full time position.

At the NYS AHPERD Conference in November, three The College at Brockport faculty members will be honored with "Amazing Person" awards. Mr. Jack Hogan is being recognized by the Future Professionals group, Dr. Alisa James by the Higher Education/Professional Preparation group and Dr. Susan Petersen by the Central Western Zone. That three of our people are being recognized with these prestigious awards in one year is a clear testament to the quality of our program and to their considerable individual abilities.

Michelle Sullivan photo

Our students are also receiving noteworthy recognition. Joe Aquilina, having received the male Departmental Major of the Year award, went on to win the coveted Jay B. Nash Award from NYS AHPERD. This award is given to two undergraduate students in the state of New York for outstanding performance during their professional preparation. The female Departmental Major of the Year award went to Michelle Sullivan, currently the President of the PE Majors Club. At the national level, senior Christopher Jaskier received the NASPE Major of the Year award. We are proud of these students and know that they will continue to represent The College at Brockport well.

Our physical education majors club continues to be a strong and committed presence at the college. Examples of club activities last year include multiple presentations at the NYS AHPERD conference, fundraising for the American Heart Association through our annual Hoops for Heart basketball tournament and raising money for local food pantries with a Halloween "haunted house". The club also sponsored nationally recognized scholars who spoke about issues as diverse as the meaning of symbols in the Olympic movement to reducing the incidence of childhood obesity. The current school year promises to be as exciting with more than 100 members present at the first meeting!

Please stop by and see us during the 2007 NYS AHPERD conference November 7-10. We'll have a booth in the exhibit hall and, in conjunction with the Central Western Zone, will be hosting a "social" on Friday, November 9 from 5:45 to 6:45 pm in the Catskill Room of the Shenendoah Club House.

We wish you all the best for the coming year and look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Athletic Training

by Dr. Timothy Henry

The Athletic Training Program is looking forward to another exciting year. We accepted 12 new students in August bringing our total number to 29!

Sixteen students graduated from our program in May. Many moved on to graduate school in a variety of different positions. Four students received graduate assistantships at Division I universities including University of Florida, University of Oregon, Georgia State University, and Armstrong Atlantic University. One student is continuing their education in physical therapy at SUNY Upstate Medical Center while others are either completing student teaching requirements or are in the process of pursuing other graduate school opportunities.

We hope that all of you are doing well in your chosen careers and we would love to hear from each of you!

Exercise Physiology

by Dr. Heidi Byrne

two students with stethoscope

Exciting times continue in the exercise physiology concentration! We hope to have a new Exercise Physiology Major in place by next fall and to make improvements in our Exercise Physiology Laboratory, both in classroom structural design and equipment availability. As enrollment continues to grow - we currently have about 100 majors in the concentration - these changes will strongly support our goal of becoming accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs by the year 2010.

New this year is "Peer 2 Peer Fitness: Learning Together for Fitness", a collaborative effort between Dr. Craig Mattern of the Exercise Physiology Concentration and Dr. Jennifer Boyle of the Health Science Department. Dr. Mattern was seeking more applied learning for his students while Dr. Boyle was looking for a behavior change project for students in the Principals of Healthy Living course. The health science students benefit by having their own personal trainer facilitate their behavior change of increasing physical activity levels. Now in its second semester, Mattern and Boyle have expanded into a research project investigating methods of enhancing physical activity levels in college students.

male student with stethoscope

I will be on sabbatical next semester to write a grant to support research on intervention methods to combat obesity in children. The intervention will likely be an after school-based program run by our students. Childhood (and adult) obesity rates continue to rise in our country. I hope that providing a fun, safe, structured environment for children to engage in physical activity along with family education regarding exercise and nutrition will help reduce childhood obesity rates in Monroe County. We'll update you on our efforts in a forthcoming e-newsletter.

Sport Management

by Dr. Bob Schneider

The sport management program continues to produce outstanding graduates - strengthening our reputation of excellence. We have several graduates who currently hold professional sports positions: Dan Lunetta '80 has served Major League Baseball in a variety of capacities including assistant general manager to the Montreal Expos and currently as director of minor league operations for the Detroit Tigers. Also employed at the professional level are Paul D'Aiuto '84, now the Vice President of Corporate Development of the NHL. Brian Sharenow '95, is CEO of US Operations of Edge Motorsports.

School-based sport organizations, including NCAA affiliated institutions, have also hired several of our graduates. Mary Ellen Enigk '00 after serving as the Director of Compliance for the Big 12 Conference just this year accepted a position in Athletic Academic Services at Oklahoma University. Jamie Weir '95 is the Sports Information Director in the Michigan State University Athletic Department.

Over the years our sport management program has developed an informal job network that serves our graduates well in gaining entry level positions in the sport industry. As one of the first sport management programs in the country, these contacts are invaluable as recent graduates seek employment opportunities. So keep us current on what you've been doing and let us know of job openings we can pass on to upcoming graduates.

Our Outstanding Faculty and Students

Dr. Joseph Winnick received the Julian U. Stein Award for lifetime achievement from the Adapted Physical Activity Council of AAPAR, an association of AAHPERD. Coach Don Murray was named the USA Wrestling FILA University Person of the Year. Dr. Cesar Torres received the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport (ISHPES) 2007 Reinhard Sprenger Award for Young Scholars. And the department now boasts two new Chancellor's Award recipients: Dr. Heidi Byrne for Excellence in Teaching and Dr. Cathy Houston-Wilson for Excellence in Faculty Service.

And let's also brag about our students! The Department of Physical Education and Sport has the second highest number of "extraordinary scholars" (i.e. Distinguished Scholars, Presidential Scholars, Dean's Scholars, Faculty Scholars and Recognition Scholars) in the college! Roxanne Nash recently completed her exercise physiology internship at NASA and was subsequently hired full time.

two students with stethoscope

Adam Pfleegor's independent study paper with Dr. Hager, titled, "Participation vs. Performance in American Interscholastic Athletics"was presented at the 2007 annual conference of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This is a prestigious conference usually reserved for presentations by university professors and Adam's paper was accepted on its own merit, not in conjunction with a faculty member. Adam was the only undergraduate presenting at the conference!

Here we all are!