Lauren Huber receives the Outstanding Major of the Year award from Dennis Docheff, President of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

LAKELAND (April 5, 2012) – Florida Southern College recently sent a group of faculty and students to attend the American Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Annual Conference in Boston, Mass. This conference is held annually and draws more than 10,000 attendees and presenters from colleges and universities from around the world.

Seven students and three faculty members from FSC attended various sessions. The students defended their senior Human Movement and Performance collaborative research projects.

In addition, senior Lauren Huber was presented with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education 2012 Outstanding Major of the Year award, given annually to a student based on accomplishments in the classroom, research, service and contributions to the community. Huber was a starting middle hitter on the Mocs volleyball team and a second-team selection to the Capital One Academic All-American Division II Volleyball Team.

“Most of our students have been working more than a year on their projects. Our students select their topics early in the major and develop their research ideas throughout their academic career” said Physical Education Department Chair Dr. Nancy H. Cummings. “This conference allows them to defend their research at a national venue and network with some of the brightest minds in our profession.”

The following students defended their projects:

• Charlie Craig and Emily Griffith, “Reading and Literacy Scores in Children with Dyslexia: Does planned movement really make a difference?”
• Lauren Huber and Kendall Wilde, “The Correlation Between the Magnitude of Training, Posture, and Movement Characteristics and Knee Pain in NCAA Division II Female Volleyball Players”
• Matthew Altman, “Air Temperature, Dew Point and Human Performance: The negative effects of heat and humidity on training and racing in Division II distance runners”
• Bryan Sbriglia and Katie Wilkerson, “Correlation Between Impact Position and Scoring Average in Elite Male and Female Trampoline Athletes”

Dr. Cummings was the faculty member collaborating on all of the projects through the FSC Human Performance Lab. Two of the projects are ongoing studies and will be continued for several years.

Other faculty members in attendance at the conference were Dr. John Hatten and Mrs. Kathy Benn.

“Watching our students mature in the research process is so fun. They start out curious but scared. By the time they get to the conference their senior year, they are so excited. We have had students presenting for the past five years,” Dr. Cummings said.

“AAHPERD has clearly shown that undergraduate research is viable and a critical component in developing our students professional development and career opportunities. This year, we had numerous graduate programs speak with our students about attending their schools. Many people who attend the poster sessions have stated that FSC has put itself on the map in our profession. Our students produce quality research that makes them marketable both in job placement and in pursuit of graduate schools,” she said.