For their final project, students in KIN 8980 – Graduate Research Seminar in Kinesiology presented ideas for research projects “that bridge” across different School of Kinesiology emphasis areas.
KIN 8980 is required for all M.S./M.A. and Ph.D. students, and covers topics such as responsible conduct of research and proposal design. Yuhei Inoue, Ph.D., assistant professor of Sport Management in the School, taught the course this fall.
During the semester, students discussed the wide spectrum of faculty and student research activities across the department. They then were divided into teams to design potential interdisciplinary research projects to present to the class, and face critical questions from their audience.
Connect, the magazine of the College of Education and Human Development, features two School of Kinesiology faculty/emeritus faculty in the December 2017 issue.
Beth Lewis, Ph.D., School director and professor, is featured in “Healthy Moms,” a story about her research in the areas of motivational interventions for physical activity and the relationship between exercise and mental health, and her pivotal studies focused on the role of exercise in preventing postpartum depression. She is also working on a new research project on postpartum depression prevention beginning during pregnancy and continuing through the postpartum phase.
Leo McAvoy, Ph.D., professor emeritus of recreation, park, and leisure studies in the School, was presented the Outstanding Achievement Award last July, the highest honor presented to a University alumnus. “Everybody outside!” recounts his many years as an inspiring, involved, and beloved professor and scholar, driven by deep commitment to and respect for the power of nature and his belief in the value of hands-on education.
Elizabeth Bye, Ph.D., professor and department head of the Apparel Design Program in the College of Design;
Robin Carufel, apparel design graduate student;
Jennifer Weber, community partnership coordinator and student activities director, Cedar Riverside Community School; and
Mary Marczak, director of Urban Family Development and Evaluation, U of M Extension.
Beginning last January, East African daughters and their mothers in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood met every Monday evening for 10 weeks at the People’s Center to participate in physical activities (e.g., basketball, yoga, strength training), learn about healthy eating, prepare and eat a healthy snack together, and design their own culturally appropriate physical activity outfit. They also learned sewing basics, including how to sew on a button, use sewing machines, and sew a bag to carry their activewear. After the weekly programming ended and while the activewear was being produced, the program facilitated every other month field trips to the Science Museum, Minnesota Zoo, and YWCA that continued to incorporate physical activity and healthy eating.
At the graduation, the daughters and mothers had fun revealing and wearing their new outfits, enjoying a celebratory meal and cake, receiving program completion certifications, and opening their thank you gifts including an additional gym bag, athletic shoes, and a three-month family gym membership.
This project is supported by a grant from University of Minnesota Extension. Survey data was collected throughout the program. Additionally, focus groups were conducted with the daughters and mothers prior to the graduation to learn about their experiences with the program, as well as the impact the physical activity and nutrition lessons and experiences and new activewear have had on their healthy living. The data will be analyzed this spring…Stay tuned for the results!
The study examined to what extent a sensory training of body leads to improvements in motor function. The study found that a short 45-min training is already sufficient to see changes in the accuracy of perceiving joint position and joint movement. This project was a collaboration with engineering colleagues at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore and Harvard University, USA. Co-authors are former HSCL member Joshua Aman, Ph.D. and lab director Jürgen Konczak, Ph.D.
Nicole LaVoi, Ph.D., senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology and co-director of the Tucker Center, participated in the 43rd class of the NCAA Women Coaches Academy (WCA) and the inaugural master class of Academy 2.0 hosted by the Alliance of Women Coaches (AWC) in Englewood, CO, last week.
Forty-eight female coaches of all experience levels and sports from NCAA Divisions I, II and III gathered for four days of non-sport-specific educational training at the NCAA WCA. In response to a desire for additional growth opportunities from graduates of the NCAA Women Coaches Academy, the Alliance created Academy 2.0, a master class for WCA graduates. Class #1 of Academy 2.0 consisted of ten female coaches representing various sports across the country.
Missy Price, who received her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 2010 and was advised by the School of Kinesiology’s Maureen Weiss, Ph.D., was selected as the Cecile Reynaud Coaching Mastery Award winner for Academy 2.0 Class #1. Price is the head soccer coach at Wellesley College.
Madeleine Orr accepts her prize with School of Kinesiology supporters. From left, Nina Wang, graduate student coordinator; Dr. Michael Wade , DGS; Dr. Beth Lewis, director of the School of Kinesiology; Orr; and Dr. Yuhei Inoue, Orr’s adviser.
Congratulations to Madeleine Orr, Kinesiology Ph.D. student in the Sport Management emphasis, who won the Second Annual University-wide 3MT® Competition held December 1. The competition, sponsored by the Graduate School, featured finalists from collegiate- and campus-level competitions. Orr will represent the University of Minnesota at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) 3-Minute Thesis competition in Spring 2018. She also was awarded a $500 prize.
The competition was covered by the Star Tribune in the December 18 Variety section.
The 3-Minute Thesis (3MT®) is a research communication competition that challenges students to communicate the significance of their projects without the use of props or industry jargon, in just three minutes. The exercise is designed to develop academic, presentation, and research communication skills along with the ability to quickly explain research in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.
Huan University graduate students participating in course lectured by Dr. Gao
Zan Gao, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory, has been selected as the Foreign Outstanding Instructor by Hunan University in the People’s Republic of China in 2017. Hunan University is a top tier research university in China.
During his trip in November 2017, Gao delivered a graduate course titled “Emerging Technology in Physical Activity and Health Promotion” to approximately 30 graduate students at Hunan University (Changsha, China). This course was designed for graduate students to develop an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of what it means to introduce and apply emerging technologies in physical activity and healthcare settings. It demonstrated the important role emerging technologies play in a grand societal challenge – health/wellbeing – within the dramatically changing society. In addition, students were exposed to a variety of real-world physical activity and health care settings, as well as the related ethics, privacy, and research regulations working in the settings. They gained a user-centered understanding from the perspective of physical activity specialists, applied emerging technologies in promoting physical activity participation among various populations, and developed research skills to promote physical activity and health in these real-world settings.
Gao’s total accumulated lecture time was 32 hours, and the students received 2 credit hours toward their graduate degrees. Gao’s lectures have been well-received by the students and faculty members at Hunan University.
In her presentation titled, “How Research Informs Everything We Do,” Weiss shared findings from four years of longitudinal research that provide evidence of effectiveness of life skills learning, and how executive directors, board members, and chapter volunteers can use the data for marketing and fundraising purposes for their program.
The First Tee is a youth development organization whose curriculum and coach training program are designed to teach life skills and core values using golf as the vehicle. The organization impacts the lives of young people from all walks of life by reinforcing values like respect, integrity, confidence, and perseverance.
A November 8 panel discussion at TCF Bank Stadium, “Challenges and Future Landscape of the Twin Cities Sports Industry,” was covered by the Minneapolis Spokesman-Review. Lisa Kihl, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and co-coordinator of the event, was quoted, along with representatives from local sports teams.
Their comments and concerns ranged from how the availability of big data drives the decision-making process to how social media has made information on players and teams available to fans instantly, making games “live events.” With six professional teams in the metropolitan area, the competition for attracting fans can be challenging. The Spokesman-Review reporter asked the panelists about efforts to increase fan diversity. All pointed to efforts to improve outreach, but “there’s room for growth” said Bryan Donaldson, Minnesota Twins Senior Community Relations director.
Konczak’s former advisee Yu-Ting Tseng, Ph.D. (2017), is also an author on the article. She is currently a post-doc at the Division of Child Health Research, Institute of Population Health Sciences in the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) in Zhunan, Taiwan.
The School of Kinesiology is offering a new all-University undergraduate minor in Health and Wellness Promotion starting in Spring 2018. Students will study the effects of physical activity and recreation in terms of community, individual health and overall wellness. Focusing on the health, physical activity, and nutrition in the context of society, they will learn how to create and utilize programs that promote physical activity, leisure and wellness. The minor will prepare students for a variety of career paths in allied health, industry, business, teaching, and community service.
“We are very excited to offer the new Health and Wellness Promotion Minor. There is increased attention on promoting health and wellness as a strategy to prevent chronic disease, and our hope is that this minor will help undergraduates gain a stronger understanding of how physical activity, recreation, wellness, and nutrition can be promoted in their professional career.”
Beth Lewis, Ph.D., professor and director in the School of Kinesiology
This interdisciplinary minor is a campus-wide program, open to all undergraduate students regardless of college or major. Detailed program information and how to apply can be found on the Health and Wellness Promotion minor’s webpage.
Last spring, Madeleine Orr, School of Kinesiology Ph.D. student, won the College of Education and Human Development’s 3-Minute Thesis Competition (3MT) with her presentation, “The Rhetoric vs. the Reality of Sport Event Legacies.” On December 1 she will take the podium again as the University of Minnesota Graduate School hosts the U of M’s 3MT preliminary-round winners in a second competition. Orr will present along with Ruben D’sa from the College of Science and Engineering, Irene Bueno Padilla from the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Amritha Yellamilli from the Medical School.
Originally established by the University of Queensland in 2008, 3MT challenges research students to communicate the significance of their projects to a general audience in just three minutes, with the aid of a single, static slide.
Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend and support the presenters. The winner will represent the University of Minnesota at the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) 3MT competition. In addition, participants will be invited to present their research at the upcoming Board of Regents meeting.
Orr is in the Sport Management emphasis and is advised by Yuhei Inoue, Ph.D.
Presentations are from 9-10 a.m. in 402 Walter Library. Awards and reception follow. Register to attend here.
Kinesiology doctoral student Christiana Raymond-Pope is lead author on an article written with kinesiology professor Donald Dengel, Ph.D., and Tyler Bosch, Ph.D., and published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
Nicole LaVoi, Ph.D., senior lecturer and co-director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport in the School of Kinesiology, and Anna Baeth, Kinesiology Ph.D.student and advisee of Lavoi, have published a chapter in the The Palgrave Handbook of Feminism and Sport, Leisure and Physical Education, 2018. The article, “Women and Sports Coaching,” addresses the ways scholarship can be used to inform and influence the goal to increase the number of women coaching sports, currently in the minority around the world.
Amanda Frayeh, Ph.D., School of Kinesiology 2015 graduate, is lead author on an article she recently published with Beth Lewis, Ph.D., professor and director of the School of Kinesiology. The article, which was based on Frayeh’s dissertation study, is titled “The effect of mirrors on women’s state body image responses to yoga,” and was published this month in Psychology of Sport and Exercise. The study examined the effect of mirrors on women’s state body image and appearance comparisons during yoga. Lewis was Frayeh’s doctoral adviser.
Frayeh is currently an adjunct lecturer in the School of Kinesiology.
Co-authors are Chui-Hui Chang, Fu-Chen Chen, and Wei-Jhong Zeng, all researchers at the Department of Physical Education at the National Kaohsiung Normal University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Chui-Hui Chang and Fu-Chen Chen received their Ph.D. in kinesiology from the University of Minnesota, where they were co-advised by Dr. Michael Wade and Stoffregen.
Joey Kronzer, a School of Kinesiology second year master’s student in the Sports Medicine Psychology Lab, presented his research, “Using E-Prime 2.0 to develop sport-specific video analysis training protocols,” at the 32nd Annual Association for Applied Sport Psychology Conference (AASP) held Oct. 18–Oct. 21 in Orlando, FL. Kronzer presented and attended at the conference through a travel grant award from the Council of Graduate Students (COGS).
For their final project, students in KIN 8980 – Graduate Research Seminar in Kinesiology presented ideas for research projects “that bridge” across different School of Kinesiology emphasis areas.
