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From the court room to the ticketing office, and now armed with a new degree, Morgantown native Leighann Sainato has gained a fresh perspective in her young professional career.

Starting as a community relations intern with the West Virginia Black Bears in August 2017, Sainato worked closely with Jackie Riggleman, then the assistant general manager and a CPASS Sport Management masters graduate. Now, two years later, the Black Bears have announced the promotion of Sainato to ticket operations and public relations manager.

The Friday Adapted Physical Education Program (APE), a CPASS initiative which provides weekly developmentally appropriate physical activity programming for more than 80 school-aged children with disabilities from Monongalia County Public Schools, received a generous donation from Dustin and Damon Casseday in April.

Damon Casseday, WVU Recreation, Parks and Tourism student, and his son, Dustin, have always had a close bond. Until the age of five, Dustin was nonverbal. It wasn’t until he started in the “Son-Rise” program, designed to help Monongalian County parents encourage their children to learn, that Damon saw progress as his son exploded with excitement to learn.

West Virginia University will expand its commitment to innovative education with an active learning classroom that will support instructors and students by creating an environment that encourages engagement, collaboration and creativity.

The classroom in the Health and Education Building, valued at $67,000, will be ready by the Fall 2019 semester and will be a varied, flexible setting designed to facilitate the hands-on experimentation and problem-solving that 21st century learning demands.

Earn Florida open water dive certification through WVU Lifetime Activities. Lifetime Activities is offering a two-day certification for open water diving, the first and final step in an open water certification. Upon successful completion of this course, each student will be ready to open water dive without instructor supervision. The course has a pre-requisite of 200-yard continuous swim and 10-minute rescue float which is administered at the first session. To read more about the course, visit the dive courses pageon the website.

Registration is now open for National Youth Sports Program camp. NYSP provides campers a chance to try and learn new sports and activities, along with teaching the importance of being physically active for their own positive emotional and physical well-being. The program emphasizes being a good sport throughout life. Daily lunch and bus transportation provided.

College faculty, staff and alumni gathered on April 26 to celebrate 2019 CPASS Student Research Day. Students presented forty posters at the 7th annual event, held in the CPASS main lobby, and featured undergraduate and graduate research along with undergraduate and graduate applied categories.

The College recognized the following winners in each of the categories:

Students, faculty and staff gathered to celebrate achievements during the College’s 2019 spring awards luncheon, Friday April 26 at the Erickson Alumni Center.

The College recognized student scholarship recipients established by alumni and donors. Faculty received awards for distinguished research, service and teaching dedication. The College honored staff for years of service and Mountaineer Value Coins.  

With graduation right around the corner, several CPASS seniors reflect on their undergraduate time at both WVU and the college. Students from different parts of the world and with various CPASS majors  share their experiences. 

They discuss what they will remember most about WVU, what their degree will allow them to do professionally, what advice they would give their freshman self and how they connected their passion with their major.

Andrea Taliaferro, associate professor, Coaching and Teaching Studies, is one of six West Virginia University faculty members who have been recognized with the University’s 2019 Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching. The award honors exceptional professors who go above and beyond to inspire their students.

Established in 1985 by the WVU Foundation, the Outstanding Teaching Award honors faculty who are particularly effective and inspiring teachers, as well as faculty who have established patterns of exceptional innovation in their teaching methods, course and curriculum design and instructional tools.

As an athlete, there are countless things that can go through the mind while playing a sport. Sports are exhausting both mentally and physically. Sophomore Morgan Phillips chose West Virginia University to study sport and exercise psychology while wanting to compete with the highly successful Mountaineer Rifle team. 

“I chose CPASS because rifle is a very mental sport and I thought sport [exercise] psychology was interesting. It’s really fascinating to learn more about sport psychology and be able to make connections between what I’m learning about in school and what I do athletically,” said Phillips.

Dean  Dana Brooks will retire from the  College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences June 30, 2019, after more than four decades as a passionate Mountaineer committed to promoting diversity and student success at  West Virginia University. Upon Brooks’ retirement, professor of  Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology  and interim associate dean  Jack Watson will serve as interim dean of the College.

Brooks began his WVU career as a graduate teaching assistant in the 1970s. His subsequent positions, which involved progressively increasing leadership responsibilities, included instructor, minority recruitment and retention coordinator, acting graduate coordinator, acting chairperson and associate dean.