Health and Human Development Newsletter

Greetings Health and Human Development Alumni, Students, Friends, and Family!

I am happy to welcome you to this year’s HHD newsletter as the current Chair of the department. After serving as a full-time faculty member of sport psychology within the Kinesiology and Physical Education program for 12 years, I was honored to be entrusted by the current faculty and Dean in January 2024 to head the department for a four-year term. Looking back over the past year, there is much to be thankful for in our department. First, we have plenty to celebrate with the amazing work that our faculty, staff, students, and alumni accomplish daily, a sample of which will be highlighted in this newsletter. In addition, our HHD team has valuable new members. We are very grateful for the addition of Dr. Nicole Wood, our new exercise physiology specialist, who joined our faculty this past Fall and is busy reinvigorating lab space. Jesse Yun, M.S., ‘24 and Moya Lojewski have also joined our staff, Jesse as a cadaver lab technician/instructor and Moya in the main office as a program assistant. We also welcomed back Sam MacDonald, a graduate from the master’s in Kinesiology, Sport and Exercise Psychology program in 2019, who is serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor for HHD this year. Along with our celebrations, there are always challenges to overcome. Western is not immune to the current budget issues that are affecting public universities, but our enrollment numbers are rebounding quickly after the pandemic drop and programs are being creative with less resources to shield any impact on student learning. Should you be able to, and would like to donate this year to our department (or directly to any of our three programs: Kinesiology and Physical Education, Public Health, or Recreation Management and Leadership), your generosity is always highly appreciated, as funds are utilized to strategically aid in the education of our students (e.g., funding lab equipment, student research, educational travel). Most importantly, thank you for staying in touch and supporting HHD just by scrolling these pages and reading the latest highlights from our programs, faculty, students, and alumni. 

Enjoy!

Linda Keeler

Professor, Sport and Exercise Psychology

Chair, Department of Health and Human Development

Co-Director, Center for Performance Excellence