Listen in on this very interesting podcast, where we have a different format where myself and our guest co-host Dr. Garth Tymeson (Emeritus Professor @ UW-La Crosse) had several generations of APE professionals on the podcast for a short time to discuss their experiences with the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) personnel development grant. More specifically, the purpose of this grant was to discuss the significant impacts of the longstanding OSEP personnel development grant programs on APE throughout the US, the current opportunities for higher education faculty and prospective students, and the need for more APE higher education faculty to submit OSEP grant proposals. Dr. Tymeson gathered a group for this podcast that represents 5 “generations” with OSEP ancestry and DNA, who have and will continue to impact the APE profession and countless students with disabilities' lives. These "generations" who had received OSEP funding were represented by:
Dr. Ron French (Emeritus Professor @ Texas Woman's University)
Dr. Lisa Silliman-French (Emeritus Professor @ Texas Woman's University)
Dr. Manny Felix (Professor @ Winona State University)
Dr. Brock McMullen (Assistant Professor @ UW-La Crosse)
Julia May (Current Master's Scholar @ UW-La Crosse)
If you are interested in getting your Master's in APE with OSEP grant funding, please know that there are graduate programs out there, such as UW-La Crosse, Cal State Chico, Oregon State University, Texas Woman’s University, Western Michigan University (online), and others. Programs range from one to two years and most require full-time, on-campus study. For APE higher education faculty interested in pursuing an OSEP grant, they should know that the OSEP grant program is available every year, and funding is for 5 years and this year there were two separate grant competitions for minority serving universities and others. In addition, the amount of money and the number of grants funded this year were the highest in the past several years.
Listen in on the May NCPEID APE Collaborative, featuring two well-experienced guest veterans in the field of APA, to discuss current issues in adapted aquatics as well as lessons and tips for adapting, innovating, and inventing in the APE field.
Dr. Monica Lepore, retired APE professor from West Chester University will be discussing current issues in adapted aquatics. She is an adapted aquatics instructor at Starfish Aquatics Institute, Special Olympics swim coach, ARC water safety instructor, USA Triathlon Level 1 coach and USA Triathlon Level 2 paratriathlon coach.
Ann Griffin, retired APE teacher and consultant from Grant Wood Area Education Agency in east central Iowa will be sharing her knowledge and expertise on the challenges and lessons she’s learned from her 40 years of experience in the field. Ann has served as an adjunct instructor for the University of Iowa, Drake University, Coe and Cornell Colleges and contributed to texts and journal articles. She was also selected as the national APE TOY in 2005, and her super power is innovating, inventing, and adapting equipment to facilitate engagement.
NCPEID is the National Consortium for Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities. They play a major role in shaping the direction of adapted physical education and adapted physical activity, as well building and promoting APE & APA programs and services.
Listen in on the March NCPEID collaborative featuring a panel of experts in the Adapted Physical Activity (APA) field, as they discuss what’s going on in the field of physical education from services & programs, to inclusion and support, and how these compare from a North American context to a European context.
This panel of experts include Hayley Morrison, assistant professor at the University of Alberta in Canada, Aija Klavina, professor at Lithuanian Sport University in Lithuania, Kwok Ng from the University of Limerick in Ireland and University of Eastern Finland, and Michelle Grenier, President of NCPEID and recently retired professor at the University of New Hampshire.
NCPEID is the National Consortium for Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities. They play a major role in shaping the direction of adapted physical education and adapted physical activity, as well building and promoting APE & APA programs and services.
This podcast features Dr. Sean Healy from the School of Nursing, Psychotherapy, and Community Health at Dublin City University in Ireland. Dr. Healy has studied around the world, receiving his Master’s Degree in Adapted Physical Activity (APA) in Belgium, and PhD at the University of Virginia. Before recently returning back to Ireland, he also worked for 3 years in the APA program at the University of Delaware. Discussed in today’s episode is Dr. Healy’s article, The Gatekeepers to Fitness: A Correspondence Study to Examine Disabling Practices Among Fitness Center Personnel. This article examines the discrimination faced by disabled people in the fitness industry, along with physical and social barriers, and how these differ throughout different types of disabilities. Listen in for more information on the results of Healy’s study and theories as to why this problem occurs.
A continuation of the podcast discussion on APE hiring and mentoring processes with recurring guest speakers Dr. Barry Lavay (@BarryLavay), Professor Emeritus who recently retired and was a full professor of APE at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) and the APE coordinator for 33 years and Dr. Melissa Bittner (@MBittner_APE), Assistant professor since 2017 and current APE Coordinator at CSULB. Building off of the hiring process discussion, this podcast discusses the importance for new faculty mentoring as well as explores strategies needed for a strong mentoring relationship between veteran professors and recently hired faculty. Most importantly, we believe replacing retired APE faculty positions and strong mentoring of junior faculty are two topics that are often not discussed but have strong ramifications to preserving the APE profession! While all “What’s New in APE” listeners will find this podcast of interest, higher education Ph. D. APE candidates and junior faculty will find this podcast especially useful.
In this podcast we talk to Dr. Barry Lavay (@BarryLavay), Professor Emeritus who recently retired and was a full professor of APE at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) and the APE coordinator for 33 years and Dr. Melissa Bittner (@MBittner_APE), Assistant professor since 2017 and current APE Coordinator at CSULB, regarding the hiring and mentoring of new faculty. Both critical issues that are needed to help continue to maintain a strong APE higher education program. In this podcast we discuss the importance of replacing the positions of retired APE higher education faculty and the cruciality of these veteran APE professionals being involved in the search process for new hires, as well as remaining on the faculty for a few years in order to mentor the new faculty members.