Two Kinesiology B.S. students were awarded honors by Sigma Xi at this year’s Undergraduate Symposium held April 18 at Coffman Union. Ashley Hansen, in the clinical movement science emphasis and advised by Alyssa Maples, presented a poster on “Basal and Reactive Cortisol in Offspring of Mothers with Depression.” Rebekah Schmidt, also in clinical movement science and advised by Liz Plunkett, presented on “Cortical Activation in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex: Healthy and Diagnosed Focal Hand Dystonia.”
Students worked with faculty/research mentors on their research projects and presented posters that described their research, its impact, and value. Over 250 U of M undergraduates participated in this year’s symposium.
The University of Minnesota Sigma Xi chapter, established in 1896, is made up of over 300 members who range from undergraduate students beginning their scientific careers to professional scientists living throughout the state. The main objective of the organization is to encourage and reward scientific research in our community.
Bhalla speaks at Youth Development Symposium
Kinesiology lecturer Dr. Jennifer Bhalla presented at the Research Meets Practice Symposium focusing on “Youth Development through Sport and Recreation” at Temple University in Philadelphia last week. The symposium was specifically geared toward understanding and implementing youth development programs in the physical domain.
Sweet receives Jeanne T. Lupton Civil Service/Bargaining Unit Outstanding Service Award
Jonathan Sweet, program associate for both the School of Kinesiology and the Tucker Center, was presented with the Jeanne T. Lupton Civil Service/Bargaining Unit Outstanding Service Award at the CEHD Spring Assembly April 24.
Jonathan was chosen for the award which recognizes those who possess professional attitude and demeanor toward students, faculty, and other constituencies that represent the University at its best, in addition to exemplary service.
Sweet has been an asset to the School of Kinesiology and the Tucker Center for 23 years.
Congratulations!
Kinesiology PhD students receive CEHD fellowship awards
School of Kinesiology PhD students Maya Hamilton, Emily Houghton, and Ana Bellard Freire Ribeiro were recently awarded academic fellowship awards offered through the College of Education & Human Development.
Maya Hamilton, sport and exercise psychology, has been chosen as a runner-up for the Hauge Fellowship, which is reserved for graduate students enrolled in the College of Education & Human Development. She is advised by Dr. Nicole LaVoi and Dr. Diane Wiese-Bjornstal.
Emily Houghton is the runner-up for the Seashore Graduate Fellowship, which honors student research interests based on social inquiry problems, social change, and social justice. She is in the sport sociology emphasis and is advised by Dr. Mary Jo Kane.
Ana Bellard Freire Ribeiro, advised by Dr. Juergen Konczak, has received the Beck Graduate Fellowship. The award is based on merit as well as the applicant’s involvement in the intersections of teaching and research, interdisciplinary studies, and the philosophy of education that reflect Dr. Beck’s research interests.
Congratulations, all!
Stoffregen to give address at Twin Ports Undergraduate Psychology Conference
On Friday, April 20, Kinesiology professor Tom Stoffregen, movement science, will give the Mark W. Olson Memorial Lecture at the 10th annual Twin Ports Undergraduate Psychology Conference, University of Minnesota – Duluth, in Duluth, on the topic of “Movement and control in the etiology of motion sickness.”
Magnuson is invited speaker at Twin Cities Broadcasters Association group
Dr. Connie Magnuson was an invited speaker at the Twin Cities Broadcasters Association Ascertainment Group, which is made up of the major and minor radio and television stations in the greater Twin Cities area. The topics Dr. Magnuson addressed were “Community Recreation Needs” and “Recreation Services and Accessibility for Underserved Populations.”
President Kaler and Karen Kaler will race in 2012 GAR; early-bird registration now open
Early-bird registration for the third annual Gopher Adventure Race (GAR) is currently in full swing, with a discounted race fee until May 19. After May 19, entrants will be charged the regular rate. Space is limited, and since President Eric Kaler and his wife Karen Kaler are racing this year, Dr. Connie Magnuson, coordinator of the Recreation, Park, and Leisure Studies B.S. program, anticipates the race will sell out quickly.
This year the overall team winners of the 2012 GAR will not only have their names engraved on the canoe-paddle trophy, which is displayed in the Cooke Hall lobby, but they will also win a four-day kayak trip to the Apostle Islands, courtesy of race partner Wilderness Inquiry. Other top-place prizes will be provided by The North Face, Nice Ride, and Midwest Mountaineering.
Lewis and Statt publish in Oxford Handbook of Clinical Psychology
Dr. Beth Lewis, Kinesiology professor of behavioral aspects of physical activity, and Eric Statt, Kinesiology doctoral student, have published a book chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Psychology. The full citation is below:
Lewis, B.A., Statt, E., Marcus, B. H. (2011). Behavioral Interventions in Public Health Settings: Physical Activity, Weight Loss, and Smoking. In D. H. Barlow (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Clinical Psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Mr. Statt is co-advised by Dr. Lewis and Dr. Stacy Ingraham, Kinesiology lecturer in exercise physiology.
Lewis chairs and presents at symposium at Society of Behavioral Medicine conference
Dr. Beth Lewis, Kinesiology professor of behavioral aspects of physical activity, chaired and presented at a symposium at the Society of Behavioral Medicine conference in New Orleans earlier this month. Her presentation citation is:
Lewis, B.A., Gjerdingen, D., Avery, M., Sirard, J. Guo, H., & Marcus, B.H. The efficacy of an exercise intervention for the prevention of postpartum depression. In B. Lewis (Chair), Innovative interventions for health behavior change during pregnancy and postpartum. Symposium at the 33rd annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, New Orleans, LA, April, 2011.
Konczak and colleagues to publish in Cerebellum
Dr. Jürgen Konczak, Kinesiology movement science professor, and colleagues at the University Medical Center in Essen, Germany, have had an article accepted in the journal Cerebellum. In their study, 12 children between 6-17 years were followed one year after the surgical removal of a tumor in the cerebellum to understand the determinants of their motor recovery.
Küper M, Döring K, Spangenberg C, Konczak J, Gizewski ER, Schoch B, & Timmann D. Location and restoration of function after cerebellar tumor removal – a longitudinal study of children and adolescents.
The researchers found that the prognosis for a full recovery is very good as long as the deep cerebellar nuclei were spared by the tumor and/or the neurosurgery.
Kinesiology BS graduates accepted into health professional programs
Kinesiology B.S. 2011 graduates Becca Brown and Ben Kraus, who have been working as research assistants on an NIH-funded exercise study directed by the School of Nursing with participation by exercise physiology professor Dr. Arthur Leon, have been accepted into health-professional graduate programs. Ms. Brown will be entering the U of M School of Nursing’s M.S. program and Mr. Kraus has been accepted into the Medical School at Iowa. Dr. Leon says, “This reflects credit on our program and the payoff of students’ hard work and professional performance in dealing with patients in a medical research setting.”
Wiese-Bjornstal, LaVoi to give invited keynotes at Hockey Symposium
School of Kinesiology associate professor and Tucker Center Affiliated Scholar Diane Wiese-Bjornstal and Nicole M. LaVoi, Kinesiology lecturer and associate director of the Tucker Center, will give invited keynotes on concussions and sport parents respectively, at the first USA Hockey American Development Model Symposium for coaches of girls U10-U12, held April 12-15, 2012, in Burlington, VT. The symposium is being held in conjunction with the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championships.
Concussions and female athletes documentary to premiere on Big Ten Network
The Tucker Center’s groundbreaking initiative, Concussions and Female Athletes: The Untold Story, produced in collaboration with Twin Cities Public Television, will premiere on the Big Ten Network (BTN), Monday, April 16, at 3:30pm CT. The broadcast will follow the Big Ten Icons Series featuring St. Paul native and legendary baseball player Dave Winfield.
“We are thrilled this important programming related to female athletes is appearing on BTN as it will bring increased awareness and education about concussions to the public,” said Tucker Center Associate Director Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi.
Concussions and their devastating consequences affect athletes in all sports and at all levels. While sport-related concussions have ignited a national conversation and public debate about this serious brain injury, the majority of attention has focused on male athletes. Critical issues surrounding the impact of concussion on female athletes have been largely ignored. Through the personal stories and experiences of coaches, athletes, and their families, as well as in-depth interviews with nationally recognized scholars and medical experts, this documentary examines the causes underlying concussion and offers practical solutions to help prevent and treat sports-related concussion injuries in female athletes.
Tucker Center Director, Professor Mary Jo Kane, noted, “We are deeply committed to educational endeavors and community outreach that provide knowledge to a broad audience. In the case of serious brain injuries such as a concussion, this documentary could quite literally save lives.”
More information related to this significant health-related issue can be found online.
LaVoi elected to NCAA Board focused on scholarly activity in college athletics
Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D., lecturer and associate director of the Tucker Center, was recently elected to serve a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Forum for the Scholarly Study of Intercollegiate Athletics in Higher Education.
Started under the sponsorship of the NCAA but editorially and philosophically independent, the purpose of the Forum is to stimulate, encourage and promote study, research and writing related to intercollegiate athletics; to demonstrate the relevance of research for reform efforts in intercollegiate athletics; to support core values of higher education in relationship to intercollegiate sport and to organize and conduct an annual scholarly colloquium, that is held just prior to the annual NCAA Convention. The Board also edits a journal, The Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, published by Human Kinetics.
21st Annual Ruth Stricker Mind-Body Lecture will explore the science of healing
“Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being” is the theme of this spring’s Ruth Stricker Mind-Body Lecture, presented by the Center for Spirituality and Healing and co-sponsored by the Henry L. Taylor Professorship in Exercise Science and Health Enhancement. Dr. Arthur Leon, MD, holds the Taylor Professorship in the School of Kinesiology.
Esther Sternberg, MD, internationally recognized for her discoveries of the science of the mind-body interaction in illness and healing, will deliver two lectures. She is the author of two books on the science of healing and the creator and host of PBS television’s The Science of Healing. Dr. Sternbeg is recognized by the National Library of Medicine as one of 300 women physicians who changed the face of medicine.
The Healing Spaces lecture will be held Monday, April 30, from 4-5:30 p.m. in McNamara Alumni Center, $15 general admission, U of M students free. A second lecture, “The Science of Well-Being,” will be held Tuesday, May 1, at 7 p.m. at The Marsh, 15000 Minnetonka Blvd, Minnetonka, MN. Register online for the U of M lecture at www.tickets.umn.edu. Contact The Marsh at www.themarsh.com for more information about the second lecture.
KIN Laboratory Re-Opening Ceremony Draws Full Crowd, Stellar Feedback
The grand re-opening of the newly remodeled Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene & Exercise Science (LPHES) and Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory (HSCL) was lauded as a major success by all who attended, including CEHD Dean, Jean Quam. Dean Quam remarked, “We believe that these are the best labs anywhere in the country. These state of the art labs will give our faculty great space in which to do their work and attract the very best graduate students.”
Dr. Henry Blackburn, former director of LPHES, had these words to say about the re-opening of the labs. “I commend the current leadership of the School of Kinesiology and of the University in advancing the laboratory’s [LPHES] continued research and training in fields increasingly important to the health of industrial society.”
Pictures from the event are available here.
Kinesiology alumnus, Cy Amundson ’08, to appear on Conan this Tuesday
Who says a degree in Recreation, Park, and Leisure Studies won’t bring you fame and fortune? He’s still working on the fortune part, but Cy Amundson, who received his B.S. in RPLS in 2008, is officially famous. Mr. Amundson will appear on Conan, the late-night talk show hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien, on Tuesday, April 3, on TBS at 10 p.m. While Amundson studied at the U of MN, he has been pursuing a career as a comedian for many years. He was a standout performer as a New Face at this year’s Montreal Just For Laughs Festival and was named CMT’s Next Big Comic in 2011.
Houghton presents on Title IX at Nokomis Library
Kinesiology PhD candidate Emily Houghton recently gave an invited talk at the Nokomis Library in honor of Women’s History Month. Her presentation was titled, “Title IX: Past, Present, Future.”
PhD candidate Emily Houghton accepts position at Fort Lewis
Kinesiology PhD candidate Emily Houghton has been offered a teaching position at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, beginning in August. Her responsibilities will include the supervision of Sport Administration practicum and internship experiences, teaching courses in Sociology of Sport, Sport Law, and Administration, and supervising and directing undergraduate student research.
Ms. Houghton is advised by Prof. Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center. Her dissertation title is, “Audience interpretations of black male athletes.” Congratulations, Ms. Houghton!
PhD candidate Lindsay Kipp receives Outstanding Student Paper Award from NASPSPA
Lindsay Kipp, doctoral candidate in Kinesiology (sport and exercise psychology), has been recognized by the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) with the 2012 Outstanding Student Paper Award based on her work titled, “Social influences and psychological and physical well-being among female adolescent gymnasts.” The purpose of the award is to recognize meritorious research by student members of NASPSPA, with evaluation criteria that the research question is original, innovative, important, and significant. Lindsay is working on her degree under the advisement of Professor Maureen Weiss.
Lindsay’s research examined concurrent and longitudinal relationships among social influences, psychological need satisfaction, and well-being indices of self-esteem, positive affect, and disordered eating using self-determination theory as a framework. She found that gymnasts who rated coaches higher in autonomy-supportive behaviors and placing emphasis on a mastery climate, along with higher-quality friendships with teammates, reported more favorable perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness with coaches and teammates and enhanced psychological and physical well-being (higher self-esteem, greater positive affect, and lower preoccupation with eating behaviors).
The selection committee conveyed that Lindsay’s paper was unanimously chosen as the top submission among a very competitive set of applications. The reviewers praised the strong study rationale and theoretical underpinning, thoughtful and sophisticated methods, and communication of both theoretical and practical implications of the research. Lindsay will present her research at the NASPSPA annual conference in Honolulu, June 7-9, 2012.