Kinesiology professor Anne Cox has been elected as president-elect to the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPA).
Cox, who said she has been a member, and involved with NASPA, for about 20 years, since she was a doctoral student at Purdue University, said not only does the organization focus on exercise psychology motor control and motor learning, as well as motor development, but it also has a heavy research focus.
“It not only covers important areas of research, but it does so at a really high level of quality,” she said.
One of Cox’s WSU colleagues, kinesiology professor Sarah Ullrich-French, said Cox’s election to the society is a tribute to Cox’s own research.
“This is a huge honor for Anne to be recognized by her peers to serve a three-year term leading this international organization of the top researchers in our field,” Ullrich-French said.
A student-centric focus
In addition to NASPA’s research focus, Cox said the organization does a good job of working with students, investing a lot in their success.
“NASPA truly emphasizes the mentoring and development of students who are going to be the next generation of professionals in our field,” Cox said. “About half of the membership is students and it’s always a focus on creating activities for students at the conference as well as continually seeking ways to better support students within the organization.”
Student success and the social issues they face are two area Cox said she hopes to work in.
“As has the rest of the country, we have already been making a big push toward diversity and inclusion initiatives and I’m really interested in helping move those along by creating more opportunities for underrepresented group to be successful within the fields that NASPA represents,” Cox said, mentioning the McNair Scholars Program as a parallel. “I’ve really enjoyed mentoring underrepresented students who want to go on to earn a Ph.D. through the McNair program so that is near and dear to my heart. I just want to make NASPA, and in particular the annual conference, a place where everybody feels safe and everybody feels included and has a voice in the various NASPA processes.”
Aside from general board meetings, preparing to be next year’s president, and pushing to emphasize student representation and success, the other main duty Cox will have is to oversee a review of the organization’s operating manual and any needed revisions.
“I could not think of a better professional organization to work for,” she said. “I’m just really excited and looking forward to this new role.”
