Chair's Corner

On campus, we are celebrating the successful completion of another academic year, graduation, and reveling in our students’ accomplishments with their family and friends. In addition to our graduates, we also celebrate our Kinesiology Scholar Award Winners: Mason Caserta (gold) who is also our American Kinesiology Associate award winner this year, Luis Torres (silver), and Kaylob Walker (bronze); and our Kinesiology Service Award Winners: Mason Caserta (gold), and Evan Praskin (silver). Congratulations to them all!

This spring, we wish a fond farewell to two outstanding faculty members who are retiring. After over 35 years at SJSU, and 50 years of teaching, Dr. Gong Chen is saying goodbye to the department he has made such an impact on. Dr. Chen served as the activity coordinator for over twenty years, wrote numerous books and scholarly papers, and was an internationally recognized expert in self-defense. His contributions to the field of Kinesiology are too numerous to mention. What I will miss most is his enthusiasm for his students and colleagues, and his unrelenting support for the department. We are also saying goodbye to the always effervescent Tom Beggs. Mr. Beggs had a distinguished career at De Anza College for many years in Adapted Physical Education before joining the SJSU faculty. While we will miss him, we know he will be enjoying adventures hiking, camping, and at the beach, often with his family. Tom brought a spirit of joy to everything he did. He was committed to his students and his teaching, and brought a smile to all of his colleagues whenever we saw him. We wish both Gong and Tom the best as they enjoy more time with their families and relish their much-deserved retirement.

This March, the department participated in the SJSU Day of Giving Efforts. A hearty thanks to those who contributed to our fundraising efforts last year to support student travel to academic conferences and other educationally enriching experiences! We will continue to highlight opportunities for our alumni and supporters to contribute to particular projects, but please know that we always welcome your donations to support our students, faculty and staff in their research, travel, and professional development.

You may be aware that the budget cuts at SJSU will present challenges in the coming academic year. While we have managed our budget well, and have maintained excellent teaching and support for our students and faculty, we are continuously asked to do more with less. Your contributions help us to continue to support our students, and we will continue to be good stewards of the funds that we have, as well as continue to advocate to receive the support we need. Kinesiology is one of the largest majors on campus, and through our activity 2 program we serve nearly all students on campus. While these are challenging times, I appreciate the work of our Coordinators Council and all our faculty in working to limit the impact of the cuts, while maintaining an excellent and engaging curriculum for our students.

As always, I want to give thanks to all our students, faculty, and staff who make the Department of Kinesiology a vibrant place, where we continue to work to keep us all moving. Your continued generosity helps us to support the academic mission of the department and support our students.