Message from Dean Pianta, p. 2Notes from Counselor Ed, p. 2New Frontiers, p. 3Leadership, p. 3Class Notes, p. 4

FALL 2011

Program Expansion Kinesiology to begin direct admission from high school

T he Kinesiology Program will begin admitting students directly from high school begin-ning with the class of 2016.This change has been received with warm enthusiasm from students as well as alumni.

Students see the benefits of being able to begin Kinesiology course work earlier, as well as having a longer period of time to explore the field. They’ll begin with the new Introduction to Kinesiology class, which will give them exposure to the various disciplines. They’ll hear about the research interests of current faculty, and the prerequisites for various graduate programs. They also have the chance to get firsthand knowledge of what different clinicians in the field do each day.

In line with the American Kinesiology Association’s mission to “promote and enhance kinesiol-ogy as a unified field of study,” our students will have a common core of courses, such as anatomy, exercise physiology, nutrition, and motor development. Expanding the program from two years to four will provide students with ample time to explore different areas of interest. The additional time spent in the major will give students a better opportunity to get to know their professors, as well as make contacts in the field. They may also have more opportunities to help with research, do additional practicum experiences, or take electives in their area of interest.

There is a great need for educated, caring professionals devoted to improving health through research, teaching, and clinical practice. America is facing a major health crisis, with an unprec-edented number of people suffering from chronic diseases related to lifestyle. Accordingly, a major focus of the American College of Sports Medicine’s “Exercise is Medicine” campaign is to advance health through science, education, and medicine. A major emphasis of our expanded undergradu-ate program is to teach our students about the powerful impact of exercise and physical activity throughout the lifespan. We know our students will have an important impact on the health of our nation, whether they go on to work with children, athletes, healthy adults, or patients.

We’re excited about these new changes and anticipate lots of student interest in the program. Alumni response has also been encouraging, with most folks wishing they had had the oppor-tunity to be admitted directly into Kinesiology, and spend more time taking classes in the major. Thanks for the support!

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KINESIOLOGY

Editor: Luke Kelly, DirectorKinesiology Program

Kinesiology is published by the Curry School of Education and is sponsored by the Curry School of Education Foundation, P.O. Box 400276, Charlottesville, VA 22904

curry.virginia.edu/kinesiology-newsletter

Kinesiology Faculty

Martin BlockProfessor Adapted Physical EducationB. Ann BoyceAssoc. Prof. of Teacher EducationHealth & Physical EducationLuke E. KellyProfessor and Program Director of KinesiologyAdapted Physical Education Joe HartAssistant ProfessorSports MedicineJay HertelJoe H. Gieck Professor of Sports MedicineSusan SalibaAssistant ProfessorSports MedicineJohn SirardAssistant ProfessorExercise PhysiologyArthur WeltmanProfessorExercise PhysiologyLisa WomackInstructor of Exercise Physiology

Read more about our faculty at curry.virginia.edu/kinesiology-newsletter

Submit your class note at curry.virginia.edu/classnotes

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Brent Arnold (Ph.D. ‘94) is an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.Kristen Banks (B.S.Ed., M.T. ‘03) is a teacher at Carmel Valley Middle School in San Diego, Calif. Shelby Basinger (M.Ed. ‘01) is a coordinator/instructor in the Health & Fitness Science Program at Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, N.C.Sarah Bingham (Ph.D. ‘93) is a professor emeritus of Longwood University in Farmville, Va. Joe Bock (B.S. ‘81) is a teacher in the Rochester City School District of New York.Heather Byrne (B.S.Ed. ‘05) is a physical therapist at Bon Secours In Motion, Virginia Beach. Brooke Canova (B.S.Ed ‘08, M.T. ‘08) is a Lower School PE Teacher at St. Anne’s Belfield School in Charlottesville.Ross Cash (B.S. Ed. ‘94) is director of instruction for Good Start Golf School in Delray Beach, Fla.John Christopher (B.S.Ed. ‘02, M.T. ‘02) is a technology facilitator for the Fountain Fort Carson School District in Colorado.Allison Colvin (Ed.D. ‘95) is professor of Physical Education at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. Phillip Conatser (Ph.D. ‘99) was recently promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure at the University of Texas Brownsville.David L. Cook (M.Ed. ’82; Ph.D. ’84) is a sport psychology consultant and motivational speaker and author of Golf ’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia.Wilma Cross (B.S.Ed. ‘97) is Senior Public Health Advisor with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Ted Croy (Ph.D. ‘11) is an assistant professor at US Army-Baylor University in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.Steve Crute (M.Ed. ‘96) is an adapted PE special-ist with Wake County Public Schools in Raleigh, N.C. Diane Damiano (Ph.D. ‘93) is a tenure-track scien-tist with the Nat’l. Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.Bethany Dannelly (M.Ed. ‘10) is assistant women’s basketball coach at Colby College in Maine. Richard Ferguson (M.A. ‘85, Ph.D. ‘91) is chair of the Physical Education, Wellness and Sport Science Department at Averett University, Danville, Va.Peter Ferrara (B.S. Ed. ‘09) is a third-year medical student. Andrew Fink (M.Ed. ‘10) teaches in the Department of Health Services at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.Michael Freeman (M.Ed. ‘05) is a teacher at Berkeley Glenn Elementary in Waynesboro, Va.Andrea Frye (B.S. ‘86) is assistant principal at Patrick Henry Elementary in Arlington, Va. Suzanne Ginnow (B.S.Ed. ‘08) graduated from Emory University School of Medicine in May 2011 with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.

Sara Glover (Ph.D ‘06) is an assistant professor at Loras College in Dubuque, IA.Rob Graveline (M.Ed. ‘96) is an exercise physiolo-gist and owner of Fitness Together in Vienna, Va.Jeffrey Hartman (M.Ed.’01, Ph.D. ‘05) is an assis-tant professor at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C.Dana Henry (B.S.Ed. ‘90, M.T. ‘90) is an elemen-tary P.E. specialist at Lake Grove Elementary in Federal Way, Wash.Valerie Herzog (M.Ed. ‘96) is the graduate athletic training program director at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.Michele Icenhour (M.Ed. ‘01) is the asst. principal at South Hill Elementary School in South Hill, Va. Paddy Jarit (B.S. ‘86) is a physical therapist/ath-letic trainer at Sport & Orthopaedic Physical Therapy in Trumbull, Conn. Regina Kirk (M.Ed. ‘76) retired from Albemarle County Schools in 2009. She is now working part-time for Henrico County Public Schools.Aija Klavina (Ph.D. ‘07) is associate professor in the Latvian Academy of Sport Education. Robin Lownsbury (B.S. ‘86) works with Henrico County Public Schools, Richmond, Va. Kristen Luck (B.S.Ed. ‘05) is a health & PE teacher at Marshall Road Elementary School in Vienna, Va. Christina Luntzer (M.Ed ‘04) is an adapted PE specialist with Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools in Virginia. Christopher Malone (M.Ed. ‘80) is retired as dean, chair, coach and faculty member from SUNY Cortland. Tarneka Manning (M.Ed. ‘04) is regional manager of the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago at Oak Park, Ill. Melanie Marks (B.S.Ed. ‘93) is a physical therapist with Rehab Associates of Central Virginia in Forest, Va. Megan Maupin (B.S.Ed. ‘06) is a physical therapist with Progress Physical Therapy in Glen Allen, Va. Kristy McClain (M.Ed. ‘04) is a PE teacher at Virginia School for the Deaf & Blind in Staunton, Va. Paul Meier (M.Ed. ‘03) is a physician assistant stu-dent with the US Ski & Snowboard Association in Park City, Utah. Meredith Morton (M.Ed. ‘05) is an adapted PE specialist in Virginia’s Hanover County Public Schools. Mandy Newberry (M.Ed. ‘07) works with the U.Va. Health System.Colleen Perry (M.Ed. ‘11) is an adapted PE teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools. Roberta Powers (B.S.Ed. ‘97) works at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. Jamil Pugh (B.S.Ed. ‘08) works at Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Chesapeake, Va.William Quillen (Ph.D. ‘89) is associate dean and director or the School of Physical Therapy &

Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FLKerry Regan (M.Ed. ‘99) is a PE teacher at Berner Middle School in Massapequa, New York.Julienne Roach (M.Ed. ‘90) is an adjunct professor at Faulkner State Community College, Gulf Shores, Ala.Howard Roesen (B.S. ‘86) is entering his 20th year of practice at Affiliated Podiatrist in Newport News, Va.Jeffrey Saunders (B.S.Ed. ‘90, M.Ed.’91) is an attorney for Taylor Walker Law Firm in Richmond, Va. Matt Schinelli (M.Ed. ‘94) is a teacher and consul-tant for NJAPE.org.Nicole Shenk (B.S.Ed. ‘08) is a physical therapist at National Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethesda, Md. Shannon Slovensky (M.Ed. ‘05) is working as an exercise physiologist in Charlottesville.Tyler Smith (B.S.Ed. ‘09) is a student physical therapist at Lynchburg College in Virginia.Sharon Spalding (M.Ed. ‘83) is professor of physi-cal education, athletic director, and cross country coach at Mary Baldwin College. Ashley Speights (B.S.Ed. ‘08) is currently a Doctor of Physical Therapy with SPARK Physiotherapy in Alexandria, Va. Cheryl Stuntz (Ph.D. ‘05) was recently tenured and promoted to associate professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. Tom Susco (B.S.Ed. ‘01, M.Ed. 02) is currently working toward a JD degree at Indiana University - Indianapolis.Robert Thorne (M.Ed. ‘01) is head athletic trainer at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Bonnie Van Lunen (M.Ed. ‘91, Ph.D. ‘98) is director of Athletic Training and Human Movement Science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. Jeffrey Watts (M.Ed. ‘93) is a teacher at Jones Middle School in Upper Arlington, Ohio. Leigh-Ann Webb (B.S.Ed. ‘05) is an emergency medicine physician at University of Chicago Medical Center in Illinois. Carrie Weimer (M.Ed. ‘04) is a physical educator at Pasadena Elementary School in Maryland.Andrea White (M.Ed. ‘02) is a physician’s assistant at Carthage Area Hospital in New York. Pam Wiegardt (Ed.D. ‘97) is director of interdisci-plinary studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. Andrew Wilkinson (M.T. ‘09) is a P.E. teacher at Wallace A. Smith Elementary School, Ooltewah, Tenn. Tony Zentgraf (B.S. ‘77, M.Ed. ‘81) is a PE teacher in Albemarle County Public Schools in Charlottesville. Nate Zinsser (Ph.D. ‘94) is beginning his 20th year directing a sport psychology program at West Point.

CLASS NOTES

Read more about the alumni listed here at curry.virginia.edu/kinesiology-newsletter

A career-spanning research agenda launched at the Curry School has propelled Kevin Guskiewicz to the

national stage and garnered him a coveted MacArthur fellowship.

Guskiewicz (Ph.D. ’95), a researcher and athletic trainer, has made major advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of sports-related concussions. Through a combi-nation of laboratory and on-the-field research, Guskiewicz has played an important role in raising awareness about the prevalence and dangers of sports-related brain injuries in both professional and youth athletics.

He was among the first to identify the long-term effects of multiple concussions, including cognitive impairment and depression in later life, through large-scale epidemiological studies of retired professional football players.

“My U.Va. experience in Kinesiology and the Curry School set me on a great path,” Guskiewicz says. “When I was researching doctoral programs in 1992, U.Va. clearly had the premier program in Sports Medicine, and today still ranks among the very best.”

David H. Perrin, who from 1986 to 2001 directed the Curry School’s graduate program in athletic training and sports medicine, says Kevin was an outstanding doctoral student. “He was focused, inquisitive, and highly moti-vated. His dissertation, ‘Effect of Mild Head Injury on Postural Stability,’ set the stage for a research agenda that has transformed the way we think about concussion in sports across all levels of participation,” says Perrin, who is now provost and executive vice chancellor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

While at Curry, Guskiewicz says, Perrin and Joe Gieck kept him focused on the topic of concussions, which at that time was a novel area of research. He was trying to develop a balance assessment tool that could objectively measure balance deficits following concussion. “In 1993, Dave Perrin returned from a concus-sion summit in Dallas, and I can recall him telling me, ‘You could be onto something really important here. It may take some time but let’s stay the course.’”

In this and subsequent research, Guskiewicz demonstrated that postural control, or balance, serves especially well as an objective measure in the evaluation of concussive episodes. His por-table and cost-effective Balance Error Scoring System is now widely used by athletic trainers at colleges and secondary schools to diagnose and manage injury more accurately and rapidly.

Guskiewicz is currently Kenan Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina, where he is also founding director of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center and research director of the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes.

His recent work focuses on the cumula-tive effects of repetitive, sub-threshold brain impacts. Using accelerometers embedded in the helmets of college football and youth hockey players, he and colleagues are inves-tigating the relationship between magnitude and number of head impacts and clinical symptoms of concussion. Taking this research a step further, he is working directly with col-legiate football players and coaches to iden-tify dangerous hits in real time and to correct

improper tackling techniques associated with sustaining concussions.

“It’s really taking the data and translating it to the sidelines,” he says. “We can take a player and say, ‘Listen, on those last two or three plays you were leading with your head. You’re predis-posing yourself to an injury.’”

Thinking beyond the sports field, Guskiewicz and his team have begun to con-sider other applications of their work. ““I think some of the return-to-play protocols that we have developed through our work with athletes could be translated to the battlefield and think-ing about how we return a soldier to the battle lines,” he says.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced its list of 2011 MacArthur Fellows on September 20. The fellowships are awarded to talented individu-als who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. Guskiewicz will receive $500,000 in no-strings-attached support over the next five years.

Guskiewicz Gets Genius GrantAlumnus Rewarded for Groundbreaking Research on Brain InjuriesBY THE MACARTHUR FOUNDATION AND LYNN BELL

“My U.Va. experience in Kinesiology and the Curry School set me on a great path .”

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The Curry Alumni Portal Get more news about fellow alumni and upcoming events: curry.virginia.edu/alumni

Curry in the Rankings U.Va. has the top Sports Medicine School in the U.S. according to Education-Portal.com

The Kinesiology doctoral program at U.Va. was ranked fourth in the nation among graduate schools by the National Academy of Kinesiology in 2010.

In 2011, the Curry School of Education was ranked 22nd among graduate schools of education by U.S. News & World Report. Six program areas were ranked in the top 15:

Special EducationSecondary EducationEducational PolicyElementary EducationAdministration & SupervisionCurriculum & Instruction

KinesiologyP.O. Box 400268417 Emmet Street SouthCharlottesville, VA 22904-4268

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KINESIOLOGY

When third-year Jared King stroked his first career home run to beat Florida State last

March, his high school coach viewed it as more than just a walk-off hit.

“You saw his teammates’ eyes when he crossed home plate; that wasn’t just about beat-ing Florida State,” said Mark Hanks, athletic director at Pulaski County High School. “That was about a kid overcoming a lot of adversity to have that one special moment.”

It was a moment that stood in stark contrast to the last time King played against the Seminoles. During that series nearly two years ago, the first baseman had just lost his mother. After fighting cervical cancer for nearly half a year, Brenda King passed away March 10, 2009, at age 45. Just three years earlier, his dad, Danny King, also died of cancer.

Rather than withdraw, however, King stepped up. As his freshman peers spent their weekends trying to figure out which fraternities to pledge, the then-19-year-old King spent his time serving as a surrogate father for his 14-year-old sister, Kelly.

Once his father passed away, King understandably could have quit base-ball. Danny King had been Jared’s coach for his whole life, so every

aspect of the sport was tied to a memory of his father. But that is not the way King is.

“It was obviously different because you come in the dugout and your coach and your father isn’t there,” King said. “But my dad taught me so many things about baseball and life, those things are instilled so deep in my core, that whether he’s here or not, I’m still going to do them. Just to be out on the baseball field, it was an escape, because that’s how I got to not think about things.”

Last year, however, King could no longer turn to the baseball field as his sanctuary. His final “punch in the gut” was a tear in the shoul-der, and he had to miss the entire 2010 season while recovering from surgery.

After two major tragedies, it is hard to imagine the impact of this latest setback. As with his other two gut punches, however, King refused to collapse. The first baseman worked tirelessly to recuperate, becoming “one of the first people [to the field] and the last people to leave,” sophomore pitcher Branden Kline said.

King said he works so hard because his par-ents taught him to do so.

“Both of my parents were always my coaches in every sport until high school, so I was brought up that way,” King said. King uses the memory of his parents as fuel. He said he believes they are not missing out on his games but instead now they can always watch him.

King is a fourth-year student in his second year of the Curry School B.S.Ed./M.T. pro-gram in kinesiology and health and physical education. He plans someday to teach and coach baseball.

This article originally appeared in the March 29, 2011, issue of The Cavalier Daily. Reprinted with permission.

A Personal TriumphKinesiology student Jared King overcomes personal adversity and succeeds on the fieldBY ASHLEY ROBERTSON, THE CAVALIER DAILY

Read more about King at curry.virginia.edu/kinesiology-newsletter

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