Mary Jo Kane, Ph.D., director of the Tucker Center and professor in the School of Kinesiology, is quoted in the Washington Post article, “Women’s professional hockey finally tries a novel experiment: Paying its player.” Kane agrees with the model though is reserved regarding its long-term viability.
Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory researchers publish edited book on physical activity and health among youth
Zan Gao, Ph.D., assistant professor in kinesiology and director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory (PAEL), recently edited a book titled “Physical activity behaviors and determinants in children and adolescents” along with his doctoral student, the co-editor, Zachary Pope. By providing analyses and interpretation of children’s and adolescent’s physical activity behaviors through the lens of well-established psychological and/or health promotion theories, this book provides empirically-based conclusions and implementation strategies for scholars and practitioners who desire to promote physical activity participation and better health outcomes among these populations.
Stoffregen appears on Fox national television’s Varney & Company show
Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL), appeared on the Fox Business Channel’s nationally syndicated Varney & Company show on Wednesday, January 6, at 10:15 AM central time to discuss motion sickness in videogames and virtual environments.
Former doctoral student Kara Marlatt publishes in Preventive Medicine Reports
Kara Marlatt, Ph.D., M.P.H., a 2015 graduate of the School of Kinesiology, is the lead author of an article recently published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports. The article, entitled “Breakfast and fast food consumption are associated with selected biomarkers in adolescents,” examines the effect of breakfast and fast food consumption on biological markers of the metabolic syndrome. The results of this study indicate that breakfast and fast food consumption are related to metabolic syndrome biomarkers for chronic disease. Donald R. Dengel, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology (LIHP) in the School of Kinesiology, is co-author on this article.
Los Angeles Times article mentions Tucker Center’s “Media Coverage and Female Athletes” documentary
The Tucker Center’s Emmy award-winning documentary, “Media Coverage and Female Athletes,” is mentioned in the Los Angeles Times’ HS Insider section, featuring an article from St. Lucy’s Priory High School, “#CoverTheAthlete highlights sexism in sports media.” The article talks about the influence of the report on the #CoverTheAthlete social media campaign aimed at “[portraying] female competence on court, in action at the most elite levels of competition.”
LaVoi quoted on women coaches
The Highlander, the student news site of Misericordia University, has published an article, “Women Coaches Wanted,” quoting Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D., co-director of the Tucker Center and faculty in the School of Kinesiology. LaVoi comments on results from her research on the decline of women coaches.
LaVoi publishes edited book, Women in Sports Coaching
Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D., co-director of the Tucker Center and faculty in the School of Kinesiology, has published “Women in Sports Coaching,” due out in March of 2016 from Routledge. The book “illuminates and examines the status of women in coaching, explores the complex issues they face in pursuing their careers, and suggests solutions for eliminating the barriers that impede women in coaching.”
CEHD Connect features Nicole LaVoi on coaching, sport and gender
A feature article in the just-released CEHD Connect from the College of Education and Human Development profiles Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D., co-director of the Tucker Center and faculty in the School of Kinesiology.
“A champion for coaches” tracks LaVoi’s life from 3-sport collegiate athlete to public scholar in the field of gender and sport, and the development of her research and interests.
Kinesiology’s Marissa Thill receives UROP award to perform research in HSC lab
Marissa Thill, a senior in Kinesiology, has received a U of M Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) award. Working as a research assistant since the summer of 2015 in the Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory (HSCL), directed by Jürgen Konczak, Ph.D., Thill’s research seeks to determine if experts who are highly skilled in a particular motor skill also have a heightened sense of body awareness related to that skill. Specifically, Thill will test proprioceptive sensitivity of the wrist joint in skilled baseball players in comparison to active soccer players. If throwing is associated with a heightened sense of wrist joint motion, baseball players should be superior to soccer players. Dr. Konczak, serving as Thill’s faculty mentor, comments: “Marissa has developed an exciting undergraduate research project. While people have always assumed that people who are highly skilled motorically also have a high sense of body awareness, the actual empirical evidence to support such a claim is very poor.”
The UROP Award offers financial awards to full-time undergraduates for quality research, scholarly, or creative projects that are judged to contribute to the student’s academic development and which are undertaken in collaboration with a faculty sponsor.
WNBA Lynx standout, Kinesiology grad, and former Tucker Center intern Lindsay Whalen receives 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award
WNBA Minnesota Lynx standout, School of Kinesiology graduate, and former Tucker Center intern Lindsay Whalen was presented with a 2015 College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) Distinguished Alumni Award at the dean’s induction dinner on November 19. Whalen took her undergraduate degree in Sport Studies from CEHD’s School of Kinesiology in 2006. The award was presented to her in recognition of her commitment to being a positive role model and inspiration, particularly to girls and young women.
Established in 2010, the CEHD Distinguished Alumni Award honors alumni who have brought distinction to their professions and communities. Recipients span a diverse range of academic disciplines and career paths: business and civic leaders, counselors and social workers, educators and activists, entrepreneurs, and the most dedicated of volunteers. All are community builders and leaders who make a positive difference in the lives of children, youth, families, schools, and organizations, and whose achievements bring honor to the college.
Lewis, Schuver publish in Journal of Lactation
Beth Lewis, Ph.D., and Katie Schuver, Ph.D., associate professor and post-doctoral fellow, respectively, in the School of Kinesiology, have published a paper in the Journal of Lactation, “The Relationship between prenatal antidepressant use and the decision to breastfeed among women enrolled in a randomized exercise intervention trial.” The paper, written with colleagues Dwenda Gjerdingen (Family Medicine and Community Health, UMN), Melissa Avery (School of Nursing, UMN), John Sirard (U Mass Amherst), and Bess Marcus (University of California, San Diego, explores the relationship between prenatal antidepressant use and breastfeeding initiation.
Kane & LaVoi present at NASSS
Mary Jo Kane, Ph.D., and Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D., director and associate director, respectively, of the Tucker Center, and faculty in the School of Kinesiology, presented a paper, “Translating and Disseminating Interdisciplinary Research as a Vehicle for Social Change,” at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) Annual Conference, in Santa Fe, NM on November 5, 2015.
Kane awarded NASSS Distinguished Service Award
Mary Jo Kane, Ph.D., director of the Tucker Center and professor in the School of Kinesiology, has been named the recipient of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) Distinguished Service Award for 2015. The award, presented to Dr. Kane at the 2015 NASSS Conference in Santa Fe, NM on November 6, recognizes individuals who have made a distinguished or extraordinary contribution to the sociology of sport and/or service to NASSS and is one of the highest honors in Dr. Kane’s field.
The signatories to Dr. Kane’s nomination letter state: “We have witnessed firsthand her commitment to the field and strongly believe her long-term contribution to NASSS and the Sociology of Sport, the impact of her scholarship and service upon the field of Sociology of Sport, as well as the practical impact of her work upon women’s sports advocates and scholars in the field make Dr. Kane especially deserving of this award.” Dr. Kane joins an eminent list of colleagues and mentors who have received the award before her.
Clio Visualizing History debutes website with Tucker Center “Media Coverage” video excerpt
Click! The Ongoing Feminist Revolution, a website exhibition from the Clio Visualizing History education organization for educators and historians, has debuted with an excerpt from the Tucker Center‘s Emmy-award winning video, “Media Coverage and Female Athletes.” The video excerpt, a collaboration between Clio and the Tucker Center’s director Mary Jo Kane, Ph.D. and associate director Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D., was specially edited for presentation in the website’s “Sporting Bodies” section.
Click! The Ongoing Feminist Revolution, highlights the collective action and individual achievements of women from the 1940s to the present. In the spirit of 1970s consciousness-raising, the name refers to the “click” moment when women discovered the powerful ideas of modern feminism. Click! features 46 film clips taken from 27 documentary films, extensive interactive timelines and in-depth essays supported by primary documents, photos and other resources.
Mary Jo Kane on MPR roundtable
Mary Jo Kane, Ph.D., director of the Tucker Center and professor in the School of Kinesiology, was interviewed as part of a MPR News’ Friday Roundtablewith US District Court Judge John Tunheim, Javier Morillo, the President of SEIU 26, and MPR host Kerri Miller.
The panelists discussed issues related to women’s sports and all the progress that has been made recently including the MN Lynx with three titles in three years as well as the Women’s World Cup from last summer.
You can listen to the Friday Roundtable from October 30th here.
Tucker Center secures private donations to support innovative research and community outreach
This fall, the Tucker Center has received $50,000 through generous financial gifts from sustaining and new donors to support ongoing scholarly efforts and community engagement. One newly established fund in the U of M’s Foundation supports TC Affiliated Scholar Dr. Chelsey Thul‘s East African Adolescent Girls Project. The Girls & Women Sport Opportunities Fund will enable girls and women to participate in sports and physical activity. Specifically, the funds will support a girls’ traveling basketball team from the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood this coming winter and spring. In addition to the Sport Opportunities Fund, donors have made contributions to a variety of Tucker Center initiatives ranging from a scholarship fund devoted to research examining gender equity in sports to the Pam Borton Endowment for the Promotion of Girls and Women in Sport Leadership. Kinesiology Master’s student, Marnie Kinnaird, has been named the first Borton Fellow. Kinnaird is advised by Tucker Center Associate Director, Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi.
WBUR Boston airs “Muslim Lady Warriors Balance Modest Dress, Performance And Fashion”
This weekend, WBUR in Boston’s Only a Game, an NPR nationally syndicated radio show about sports, aired “Muslim Lady Warriors Balance Modest Dress, Performance And Fashion,” a piece on School of Kinesiology lecturer and alumni and Tucker Center affiliated scholar Chelsey Thul, Ph.D. and her “Co-Design Project” with East African girls and their newly designed athleticwear.
KFAI’s MinneCulture highlights Thul’s Co-Design project
In a KFAI MinneCulture segment, “Look out LeBron, She’s Got Game Now,” School of Kinesiology lecturer and alumni Chelsey Thul, Ph.D. is interviewed along with participants in the Tucker Center‘s collaboration with the U of M’s School of Design and the local community. The “Co-Design Project” centers on working with East African adolescent girls to co-design a garment for physical activity that is functional, culturally sensitive, and aesthetically appealing.
LaVoi in Strib on Lynx, Wolves “Senior Dancers”
Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D., associate director of the Tucker Center and faculty in the School of Kinesiology, is quoted in a recent Star Tribune article, “Senior dancers are a crowd favorite at Lynx, Wolves games. LaVoi, a big Lynx fan, notes the very popular dancers are “visible proof that women can be physically active across the life span.”
LaVoi on “How Women in Sports are Changing the Game”
Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi, associate director of the Tucker Center and faculty in the School of Kinesiology, was interviewed for a Dispatch-Argus QCOnline article entitled, “How women in sports are changing the game.” LaVoi talks about the increase in women’s sports viewership.