NASPSPA President Election

I am honored to run for President-Elect of NASPSPA, a society that has been my professional home for 20 years. My career has been greatly nurtured and inspired by the NASPSPA community, and I have contributed to its mission in several ways. I served on the Board of Directors as Student Representative in 2011-12 and Secretary-Treasurer in 2020-22. I participated in NASPSPA’s early-career mentoring program in 2024-25 and co-founded its Philanthropic Committee in 2024. Additionally, I have engaged in numerous workshops, symposia, and faculty-student roundtables over the years. Together, these experiences have deepened my pride in NASPSPA and provided clear examples for how NASPSPA’s past leaders have advanced its many initiatives.

As the Founding Director of the Families in Sport Lab at Utah State University, my research examines the individuals, organizations, and contexts that shape and are shaped by young people’s experiences and outcomes in sport. Our work has been supported by groups such as the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the NCAA, and the Aspen Institute. I have contributed more than 80 projects to NASPSPA’s scientific programs, and I value translating research into practice and policy. I was deeply honored to receive NASPSPA’s Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award in 2021. That milestone reinforced the fact that every researcher needs a village — and mine has always been NASPSPA. As president-elect, I will work to strengthen NASPSPA’s collaborative community, support impactful scholarship and dissemination, and help empower the society’s next generation of scientists. NASPSPA has given me far more than I can ever repay, and I would welcome the opportunity to give back by serving as its 58th president.

I am honored to be nominated to serve as President-Elect of NASPSPA. I joined NASPSPA as a doctoral student at Michigan State University in1999 and I have continued that mentorship by encouraging and supporting my graduate students to attend for over 20 years. Along with SCAPPS, it is my academic home and a community that I have been fortunate to have been a part of. I would embrace the opportunity to give back to NASPSPA to help lead in the next chapter of this extraordinary organization.

In my 25 years at Brock University in Ontario, Canada I have served as Chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Graduate Program Director within the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences; I am currently Associate Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. External to the university, I have been an executive member for SCAPPS, the Coaching Association of Canada’s Research Council, and the Canadian Council of University Physical Education and Kinesiology Administrators.

It is a critical time for organizations that play a vital role in the development of young scholars. NASPSPA has a duty to articulate clear policies on artificial intelligence systems to ensure ethical use and protect research integrity. I would also echo Dr. Rhea’s comments from last year’s election on strengthening our role as the pre-eminent organization in our fields in North America. This could include objectives such as hosting a conference in North American countries outside of Canada and the United States and including more international featured speakers.