Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ASU’s Hans van der Mars to be Inducted Into SHAPE America’s Hall of Fame

RESTON, VA, March 6, 2018 — SHAPE America – Society of Health and Physical Educators announced today that Hans van der Mars, who serves as program director for Arizona State University’s Physical Education Teacher Education Program and its Master’s of Physical Education (M.P.E.) program, will be inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame on Friday, March 23, during its 133rd National Convention & Expo in Nashville. 

Van der Mars will be honored during the Hall of Fame Banquet, during which SHAPE America will also recognize its National Physical Education Teachers of the Year for elementary, middle and high school and National Teachers of the Year for adapted physical education, dance and health. The banquet is sponsored by Sportime, featuring SPARK, a category of School Specialty, Inc., and Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

SHAPE America’s Hall of Fame awards are given to honor outstanding individuals who 1) make significant contributions to maintaining sport, physical education and physical activity as an integral part of the total education program; 2) further the image of sport and healthy physical activity for all; 3) accentuate the integral relationships of sport, motor development and physical activity to the total educational process; 4) encourage involvement in meaningful competitive sport or physical activity programs by influential educators and citizens in all walks of life; and 5) symbolize the educational and developmental potentials of physical education and sport.

Past Hall of Fame inductees include golfer Annika Sorenstam; University of Tennessee Women’s Basketball Coach Pat Summitt; tennis greats Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe; NFL Hall of Famers Nick Buoniconti and Anthony Munoz; sports columnist Christine Brennan, and Olympians Tony DiCicco, Dick Fosbury, Rulon Gardner, Nancy Hogshead, Dan Jansen, Rafer Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Carl Lewis, Shannon Miller, Edwin Moses, Dot Richardson, Wilma Rudolph and Peter Vidmar.

“Hans van der Mars is one of the worldwide leaders in research on teaching and learning in our field,” says SHAPE America President Fran Cleland of West Chester University. “His contribution in those areas have provided many teachers and teacher educators with evidence-based best practice for the education of students in our schools.”

An author, editor and reviewer, Dr. van der Mars has been particularly adept at serving as an excellent role model for making research understood and usable by practitioners. He has authored 68 refereed research and professional papers, three textbooks, and 26 book chapters. In addition, he has made over 140 national and international presentations, including in South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, England, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Finland, Poland, Turkey, and The Netherlands. He is a Fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK), SHAPE America, and the North American Society of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance Professionals.

In addition, he has served on the SHAPE America Board of Directors, the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Science Board and the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance’s National Physical Activity Plan-Education Sector Advisory Panel, which informs and influences policy that promotes healthy physical activity in schools across the country. Dr. van der Mars holds a master’s degree from Ithaca College and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.

For more information about the SHAPE America National Convention & Expo, visit shapeamerica.org/convention and follow #SHAPENashville.

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