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A College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences staff member was honored for her superior dedication during a recent Office of Student Success Zoom meeting. Melinda Gallagher, OSS student success coordinator for online graduate students, received a 2020 WVU Values Coin for her commitment and enthusiasm in her daily role.

“Melinda has been an awesome addition to our office and the glue holding us all together during the past pandemic year. She goes above and beyond her duties, always eager to jump into a project or take on a new challenge,” Elizabeth (Betsy) Robbins, OSS student success coordinator said.

Recent transitions within the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Office of Student Success will further boost the college’s student services offerings related to recruitment and retention. Through staff expansion and reorganization, along with additional opportunities to establish new program initiatives, OSS is well positioned to enhance student services.

Melinda Gallagher and Colton Metzger have joined the team as new student success coordinators. Gallagher will work directly with online graduate students while Metzger will assist undergraduate Health and Well-being students. Cole Smith and Kimberly Cameon have joined OSS in their current roles as web/graphic designer and communications specialist, respectively. Lindsay Augustine will lead OSS initiatives as the newly named assistant dean for student and enrollment services.

A College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences faculty member has received the 2020 Diane Gill Paper of the Year award from the Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, recognizing her research on body image and weight and appearance pressures in competitive sport. 

Dana Voelker, associate professor and director of undergraduate online education, was honored for her publication, “It’s Just a Lot Different Being Male Than Female in the Sport”: An Exploration of the Gendered Culture Around Body Pressures in Competitive Figure Skating, with Dr. Justine Reel at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Sofia Espana Perez, Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology doctoral major, is one of only four recipients who was selected for the 2021 WVU Foundation Distinguished Doctoral Scholarship, as announced by the Office of Graduate Education and Life.

OGEL says that graduate students provide incredibly valuable research, teaching and services to the WVU campus and the greater Morgantown community. OGEL provides the awards to help these highly qualified students defray the costs of their education and promote the dissemination of their research to a broader audience.

An online resource that focuses on providing teachers and parents with lesson ideas integrates physical activity throughout the school day, while promoting learning, health and wellbeing. Active Academics®, an interventional program housed in the Center for ActiveWV in the West Virginia University College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, serves as a resource that teachers can use to access engaging lesson ideas across a variety of subject areas that build movement into the learning process.

“National recommendations agree that children should get at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity. Since children spend much of their day in school and learning environments, it is important for educators to integrate physical activity opportunities throughout the school day to help meet these guidelines,” Eloise Elliott, Ware Distinguished Professor with CPASS, said.

Despite barriers and delays caused by COVID-19, partners around the state have found imaginative solutions to empower communities striving to overcome West Virginia’s health-related challenges.

A year ago, the Center for ActiveWV, at the West Virginia University College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, set out to empower communities to create opportunities for physical activity through a statewide initiative. Amid a global pandemic, access to physical activity in communities has become a valuable tool to boost immune systems and manage stress.

Undergraduate students within the West Virginia University College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences will soon have expanded opportunities for online learning. Beginning January 19, 2021, Dana Voelker will serve as the college’s director of undergraduate online education to enhance the college’s online programming.

Voelker will team up with WVU campus partners, including WVU Online and WVU Career Services, along with the CPASS Office of Student Success, to increase the college’s online education efforts.

An ongoing collaboration with the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) and the Human Performance Innovation Center (HPIC), which allows CPASS students to gain practical learning in support of classroom work, has taken another step in growing this unique educational experience and partnership.

Guy Hornsby, assistant professor, Coaching and Performance Science, recently received an adjunct faculty appointment with RNI and the HPIC. "This partnership establishes a more formal relationship between CPASS and RNI HPIC that I believe creates a nice bridge between the two programs. It is particularly attractive for our coaching and performance science students working in the HPIC lab and in sport science roles with WVU athletics,” Hornsby said.

Alfred “Al” F. Ware, a devoted West Virginia University College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences alumnus, died on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at the age of 93 after a short illness in Franklin, Tennessee.

Ware, of Rupert, and his late wife, Dolores “Dee” Ware, had an unwavering history of support for CPASS through their wide-ranging philanthropy and leadership roles.

Blake Costalupes is passionate about exploring mindfulness interventions within sport and exercise psychology, focusing on student-athletes’ goals to help them excel.

Costalupes’ research, “A Smartphone Mindfulness-based Intervention Pilot Study with Competitive High School Baseball Players,” was selected for publication of the special student edition of the Journal of Kinesiology and Wellness.