8.1MB - College of Education - Auburn University
8.1MB - College of Education - Auburn University
8.1MB - College of Education - Auburn University
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K i n e s i o l o g y<br />
A N e w H o m e<br />
Department eager to settle<br />
into new facilities<br />
The Department <strong>of</strong><br />
Kinesiology will soon<br />
have facilities to match<br />
its sparkling reputation<br />
for performing vital<br />
research.<br />
In addition to the<br />
university’s new Magnetic<br />
Resonance Imaging<br />
Research Center, which<br />
opened in spring 2011,<br />
faculty can also look<br />
forward to the construction <strong>of</strong> a new Department<br />
<strong>of</strong> Kinesiology building on a site formerly<br />
occupied by Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures<br />
near Wire Road and adjacent to the outdoor<br />
swimming complex. Dr. Mary Rudisill, department<br />
head, said the building should be open in<br />
time for the fall 2012 semester. She expressed<br />
gratitude to the university’s Board <strong>of</strong> Trustees,<br />
as well as Provost Mary Ellen Mazey and<br />
Dean Betty Lou Whitford, for their support in<br />
obtaining state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art facilities.<br />
“We’re really excited that we’re going to be<br />
in a building that is really built to meet our<br />
needs,” she said. “We see ourselves advancing.<br />
It’s going to help in terms <strong>of</strong> student and faculty<br />
recruitment. We appreciate the support <strong>of</strong> the<br />
college and university. We feel as though they’re<br />
seeing our potential and supporting that. We’re<br />
going to live up to it. We want to thank everybody<br />
for believing in us.”<br />
The Department <strong>of</strong> Kinesiology building<br />
will consist <strong>of</strong> 58,000-square feet <strong>of</strong> research<br />
and <strong>of</strong>fice space. Faculty will use classroom<br />
space in the Student Activities Center, which<br />
N e w fac e s<br />
Tina Gottesman<br />
Associate I - Financial<br />
Lauren Einhorn<br />
Administrative Support<br />
Associate I - Academic<br />
will be renovated and transformed into a Wellness<br />
& Sustainability Center. That building will<br />
include such amenities as a dance studio and<br />
weight room.<br />
Rudisill said Dr. David Pascoe, Humana-<br />
Germany-Sherman distinguished pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />
and director <strong>of</strong> the Thermal and Infrared Lab,<br />
served as the department’s point person in<br />
communicating needs to the architects, Infinite<br />
Architecture and ThreeSixty Architecture.<br />
“The university was very careful to first<br />
assess our department teaching, research and<br />
outreach needs,” Pascoe said. “The building<br />
has been designed to meet our current faculty<br />
needs, and the spaces have been designed to accommodate<br />
other faculty if and when vacancies<br />
arise. The building is designed from a program<br />
focus more than from an individual faculty<br />
focus.”<br />
The newly completed MRI Research Center,<br />
located at the university’s research park, will <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
space for the department’s research relating<br />
to gait analysis, posture analysis, post-surgery<br />
performance and rehabilitation, exercise prescription<br />
and adherence, sports performance<br />
testing and assessment and sports psychology.<br />
It will also serve the Warrior Research Center<br />
(see related story, page 32).<br />
Rudisill said the new facilities should help<br />
the department solidify its position in the<br />
National Academy <strong>of</strong> Kinesiology’s ranking <strong>of</strong><br />
doctoral programs.<br />
“We have a goal to be in the top 15 and we<br />
think we can get there with the MRI building<br />
and the new facility,” she said.<br />
K E Y N O T E S<br />
ALSDE awards<br />
funding for physical<br />
activity study<br />
Drs. Danielle Wadsworth<br />
and Leah Robinson earned a<br />
$5,000 Alabama State Department<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Education</strong> grant in<br />
support <strong>of</strong> their collaboration<br />
examining approaches<br />
to physical education at the<br />
preschool level.<br />
Their project is entitled “Increasing<br />
Preschoolers’ Physical<br />
Activity and Time On-task<br />
using Structured Classroombased<br />
Physical Activity<br />
Breaks.” The study will evaluate<br />
the effect classroom-based<br />
physical activity breaks have<br />
on preschool-age children’s<br />
physical activity levels during<br />
the school day and on-task<br />
behavior during instruction<br />
time.<br />
Quindry earns<br />
seed grant<br />
Dr. John Quindry, director<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Cardioprotection<br />
Research Laboratory, earned a<br />
seed grant from the college’s<br />
Scholarship and Innovation<br />
Committee.<br />
His project relates to heart<br />
attack protection and how<br />
“natural opioids” prevent<br />
heart attack damage.<br />
A K e y s t o n e i n B u i l d i n g a B e t t e r F u t u r e f o r A l l 41