Speakers

Dr. Alan L. Smith

Dr. Alan L. Smith is dean of the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University and professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences. Al is past president of the American Kinesiology Association (AKA) and the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) and served on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition Science Board. Al is also a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology. His research addresses the link between sport and physical activity involvement with young people's psychological and social functioning. He is most known for his research on peer relationships in the physical activity domain (e.g., sport, physical education) and the motivational implications of these relationships for children and adolescents. This work has included sport parenting, athlete burnout and the promise of physical activity for ameliorating symptoms and impairments of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in young children. His work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Department of Education as well as other agencies such as the International Olympic Committee.

Al joins us as a longtime member of MSEPS before his time at Utah State University. Al served for nine years as professor and chair in the Department of Kinesiology at Michigan State University and for 14 years as a faculty member in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Purdue University. He has had numerous masters and doctoral students present at MSEPS and he is well known among faculty who attend the conference regularly. We look forward to Al sharing his wisdom as our keynote speaker in Holland, Michigan.

Dr. Kelley Strohacker

Dr. Kelley Strohacker is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). Prior to her appointment at UT, Kelley earned a B.S. in education as an exercise specialist from Bowling Green State University and Ph.D. in kinesiology from the University of Houston. She then went on to complete her postdoctoral work in cardiovascular behavioral medicine in the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School. Kelley joined the faculty at UT in 2013 and has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the areas of fitness testing and exercise prescription, research methods, health and exercise psychology, and behavioral intervention development, and currently mentors masters and doctoral students in the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies.

Kelley’s research has evolved from understanding the immunological effects of obesity and exercise to developing person-adaptive strategies to manage affective and physiological effects of exercise that support goal attainment and behavioral adherence. Her expansive background in physiology, behavior and exercise promotion has allowed her to explore areas of intersection among these fields, resulting in over 50 publications, multiple national and international presentations of her work and, most recently, co-authorship of a book chapter in Sport and Exercise Psychology: Theory and Application on the cross-sections of physical activity, subjective well-being and mental health. In 2018, Kelley was named fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine for her scholarly work in the realm of exercise physiology and behavior.