Mendelson Center co-director elected to national academy

Author: Dennis Brown

Brenda Bredemeier, co-director of the Mendelson Center for Sports, Character and Community at the University of Notre Dame, was elected an active fellow of the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education (AAKPE) at the organization’s 73rd annual meeting Sept. 13.p. The academy’s membership consists of the top 100 people in the fields of kinesiology and physical education. In order to be elected, individuals must be nominated by a current member of the academy, be currently engaged in professional and/or scientific work in kinesiology or physical education, and have helped to significantly influence their profession or discipline over a period of at least 10 years through their leadership activities in professional associations and learned societies and their contributions to scholarly and professional literature.p. The AAKPE was established in 1926 to recognize outstanding scholars in the study of physical activity. Some 450 people nationwide have been inducted into its ranks.p. Bredemeier is among the nation’s leading experts on the relationship between participation in athletics and character development. She co-authored the book “Character Development and Physical Activity” and has published numerous articles on how experience in sports is related to moral reasoning and behavior, gender, cheating, aggression and motivation.p. Bredemeier earned her doctorate from Temple University, focusing on the social psychology of sport, and her master’s degree in the same field from Smith College. She received bachelor’s degrees in psychology and physical education from the University of Minnesota and is certified as a sport psychology consultant by the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology. She served as a research and teaching assistant at Smith, Temple and Pennsylvania State University from 1973-79, and also coached badminton and volleyball at Temple and Smith during that time.p. Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty in 1999, she taught and conducted research for 20 years at the University of California at Berkeley, where she also served as a dean from 1987-98. She has held visiting and adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Oregon, John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Calif., and the Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua in Mexico.

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