2024 Kinesiology and Physical Education Newsletter
Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) Faculty News
Dr. Linda Keeler
Dr. Keeler has enjoyed working on a collaborative research program over the past few years with Dr. Arthur-Cameselle and the ’21-’23 Sport and Exercise Psychology (SEP) graduate cohort. The SEP faculty have been focused on expanding research on the effects of mindfulness interventions on sport performance, testing out dose responses and different types of mindfulness practices on basketball and golf performance. The ’21-’23 graduate cohort was involved with the ongoing golf project in addition to many undergraduates as research assistants, so the team element has made it a really enjoyable process for Dr. Keeler.
Along with Dr. A-C and the SEP graduate cohort, Dr. Keeler also hosted another successful PNW-AASP conference at WWU in April of 2023. Several alumni attended, all of whom were great to see. She connected with more alums at the AASP national conference in Orlando in October of 2023. Dr. Keeler hopes to see more former students and next year’s AASP conference in Las Vegas (October of 2024). The SEP faculty welcomed a new grad cohort in the Fall of 2023 and are busy getting them ready to start thesis proposals and seeing clients at the Center for Performance Excellence. Dr. Keeler has recently been appointed as the new Chair of the Health and Human Development department and is excited about the new challenge and opportunity to be effective in this important role. With the new chair position, Dr. Keeler will be teaching fewer undergraduate courses, but she looks forward to supporting undergraduate students in other ways and will still be fully involved with the graduate program.
Dr. Jessyca Arthur-Cameselle
Dr. Arthur-Cameselle is thoroughly enjoying her eighth year at Western and continues to appreciate working with our motivated and curious students. A highlight over the past year was mentoring the four sport and exercise psychology graduate students (2021-2023) who staff WWU’s Center for Performance Excellence. She found it particularly rewarding to watch the graduate students apply their learning to assist athletes during mental strength coaching sessions. Although it was hard to say goodbye to such a great group in May, Dr. Arthur-Cameselle is feeling energized by the four new graduate students who started in the fall of 2023.
She continues to have a productive research partnership with Dr. Keeler. They collaborated on several projects over the past year, which led to a publication with former graduate student Marísa Fernandez (‘21), a national conference presentation with former graduate student Dominique Mullicane (‘22), and several other projects in progress. Some new adventures for Dr. Arthur-Cameselle this year include advising WWU’s Kinesiology club and serving as a guest co-editor for the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology for a special edition of the journal on competence and mentorship. Dr. Arthur-Cameselle will be on sabbatical in the Winter of 2024 to conduct the first half of a project on cultural differences in athletes’ self-talk. In her spare time, she continues to play soccer as well as tennis, and is now coaching her son’s 5th grade basketball team, which affords a wonderful opportunity to (try to!) apply all the concepts she teaches her students.
Dr. Lorrie Brilla
Lorrie Brilla’s career at Western began 38 years ago, but her dedication to higher education formed long before she became a professor. Dr. Brilla’s mother, Rose Gaffney whose parents were immigrants, was always committed to getting an education. Rose had to leave school in 8th grade during the Great Depression to help support her family of 11 siblings. Spirited, sharp-witted, and energetic, she dreamed of a better life for her own children and instilled in them a love of education.
To honor her mother’s legacy, Dr. Brilla and her siblings have established the Rosemary “Rose” Gaffney Scholarship for a Master of Science student in Kinesiology (Exercise Science option) at Western. The scholarship is for a student who is curious about research, who is relentless, working beyond inspiration, and who is resilient enough to remain open to unexpected outcomes from the research. The goal is to fully fund the scholarship by June 2024 so that it can be awarded. Contributions can be made by visiting this link.
Dr. Harsh Buddhadev
In the spring of 2023, Dr. Buddhadev announced that he was leaving Western to pursue a faculty position at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. In addition to his role as a professor, he is also the director of the Motor Behavior Lab at SHSU. We wish him the best in his new position!
Dr. Gordon Chalmers
Dr. Chalmers continues to enjoy teaching his classes. So much so, that he has stepped away from administrative responsibilities, so that he can focus his energy on teaching and enjoying the great students in our majors. He continues to appreciate the great engagement and questions students ask during class.
When not teaching, he is thinking about his research on how people are able to control their standing position without falling over, yet a stick standing on its end will inevitably and immediately fall. He has also been building stronger connections between our program and excellent internship sites in the region, to enhance students’ off campus applied learning.
Dr. Jun San Juan
This academic year, Dr. San Juan began his tenth year at Western. He finds it encouraging to see students starting to get back in rhythm with in-person classes. For example, his students have engaged in more activities in the functional anatomy and biomechanics labs. Together with Drs. Suprak, Buddhadev, and Robey, Dr. San Juan attended the Northwest Biomechanics Symposium (hosted by the University of Washington), which featured a poster presentation by one of his graduate students. Western had a strong presence at the Symposium. In addition, Dr. San Juan presented his research on the use of smartphones to evaluate postural stability at the American Society of Biomechanics in Knoxville, TN. After a long period of not attending an in-person national conference, it was great to attend this fantastic meeting, which allowed him to broaden his knowledge and network with colleagues and collaborators.
Dr. San Juan also had fun spending his summer vacation camping with his family. His son Kai will be entering kindergarten next year, while his daughter Mya recently completed elementary school. He is looking forward to several significant adjustments at work and home.
Dr. Nathan Robey
Dr. Nathan Robey completed his second year as a faculty member at WWU. His research involving neuromuscular adaptations here at WWU is slowly getting up and running (he is busy running around with two kids under age 2!). He is starting a study that investigates the different test methodologies on one’s dynamic postural stability.
In the Spring of 2023, Dr. Robey and other faculty members in the Kinesiology program were happy to have a graduate student’s thesis manuscript accepted for publication. Additionally, he attended the National American College of Sports Medicine conference in Denver (Spring of 2023), where he presented research on postural stability assessment using non-linear methods in an ACL-reconstructed population. Dr. Robey was also invited to serve on the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Education Advancement Committee as a regional representative.
Dr. Dave Suprak
In 2023, Dr. Suprak completed his 15th year as a faculty member at WWU. He continues to conduct research on shoulder biomechanics, joint position sense, and rehabilitation exercise biomechanics, and recently expanded his scope to include his interest in explosive performance measures.
Dr. Suprak finished his tenure as Washington State Director for the National Strength and Conditioning Association this past year and has now taken on the role of Kinesiology and Physical Education Program Coordinator at WWU. In addition, he served as Chair for the Institutional Review Board over the previous academic year.
Dr. Nicholas Washburn
Dr. Washburn had a wonderful year in the Physical Education and Health (PEH) Teacher Education Program! He presented with students at the SHAPE America National Conference in March and the SHAPE Washington Annual Conference in October. PEH students from WWU were honored with the SHAPE America Major of the Year Award (Skyleigh Morrison) at the national conference and Emerging Leader Award (Addie Butler) at the state conference as well.
Dr. Washburn was very grateful to receive the SHAPE Washington Professor of the Year Award, publish a chapter on qualitative research methods, and contribute to data collection for a thesis project of a recent alumnus. Personally, he is enjoying spending time with his wife, three daughters (now ages 5, 3, and 1), and is thankful to enjoy all that is available here in the great PNW!
Dr. Hillary Robey
Dr. Robey is on leave through the winter of 2024, but will be back in action in the spring of 2024!
KPE Program News and Updates
SHAPE Washington Professor of the Year Award
Physical Education and Health (PEH) Teacher Education professor Dr. Nick Washburn received the SHAPE Washington Professor of the Year Award in 2023. In addition, WWU’s PEH students received the SHAPE America Major of the Year Award (Skyleigh Morrison) at the national conference and the Emerging Leader Award (Addie Butler) at the state conference. These awards are a testament to the high quality PEH program at WWU!
Northwest Student Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium
In April of 2023, the Sport and Exercise Psychology faculty and graduate students hosted the regional Northwest Student Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium (an Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) regional conference), which was also sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Development and College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The event drew attendees from Washington, Oregon, Idaho as well as California and featured keynote lectures from Dr. Eric Martin of Boise State University and Dr. Alex Czopp of the WWU Department of Psychology.
AASP Conference
At the 2023 regional AASP conference, four WWU Kinesiology graduate students in the sport and exercise psychology option from the 2021-2023 cohort, Lindsay Ahmann, Peyton Bilo, Claire Henninger, Becca Pierce, gave well-received presentations on their thesis research projects at the regional conference. These four students successfully defended their theses and are now officially WWU alumni!
National Association for Applied Sport Psychology Conference
Drs. Arthur-Cameselle, Keeler, and Washburn presented a poster at the National Association for Applied Sport Psychology conference with recent alum Dominique Mullicane (‘22), who is currently working full-time providing performance enhancement training to members of the US military. The well attended presentation was on Dominique’s thesis research on the effects of coaching feedback on juggling performance.
2022-23 Student Award Recipients
Taylor Walston (‘23)
was selected as the 2022-2023 Outstanding Graduate Student in Kinesiology, within the Exercise Science option. Dr. Suprak served as the chair of his thesis committee.
Matt Keene (’23)
was selected as the most outstanding undergraduate student for the Kinesiology program.
Aidan Fenton (’23)
was selected as the most inspirational student for the KPE programs.
Drew Walker (’23)
was selected as the most outstanding undergraduate student in Physical Education and Health (PEH).
Ways to Give to the KPE Program
As always, we appreciate your support of the Kinesiology and Physical Education programs and the Center for Performance Excellence, which allows us to offer more opportunities to our students. Our KPE Fund covers conference attendance, special events, guest speakers, research, equipment, materials, etc.
Online: Kinesiology and Physical Education Program Support Fund
Center for Performance Excellence
Health and Human Development Foundation Fund
Via phone: 360-650-3027
With a check made payable to the WWU Foundation: Please indicate which fund you are donating to on the memo line of your check. Mail to: WWU Foundation, 516 High St., Mailstop 9034, Bellingham, WA 98225-9034
Thank you for your generosity. We appreciate your support!
Questions? Need help? Visit How to Give.
Contact us: HHD website
HHD Main Office
Carver 102
360-650-3105