On February 20, 2020, School of Kinesiology professor and director Beth Lewis, PhD, gave the 25th Annual Dorothy V. Harris Memorial Lecture in Sport Psychology at Penn State. The title of her lecture was, “Get Up and Get Moving: Evidence-Based Behavioral Strategies for Physical Activity Adherence.” 

The Dorothy V. Harris Lecture Series in Sport Psychology honors Dorothy Harris, a Penn State alumna, past faculty member, and pioneer in the fields of sport psychology and women in sport. 

While at Penn State, Harris developed one of the first graduate programs in sport psychology in the country. Later, she became the first woman president of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Penn State in 1982, and in 2004, the Board of Trustees named a residence hall on the University Park campus in her honor. The lecture is presented annually in memory of Harris, who died in 1991.

The first year of the Harris lecture was 1995-96, and since then the series has hosted 24 distinguished speakers who are considered some of the leading figures in sport/exercise psychology. Interestingly, the 1995 inaugural lecture was given by School of Kinesiology professor Maureen Weiss.