Vol. 19, No. 12

Nov. 18, 1999

Susan J. Hall named chair
of health and exercise sciences

Susan J. Hall became interested in the University of Delaware when she read a job posting for the position of chairperson of the Department of Health and Exercise Sciences. The notice specified that the College of Health and Nursing Sciences was particularly seeking a department head with vision. "This suggested to me that they were not looking for someone merely to maintain the status quo, but to provide leadership in some new directions," said Hall, who began work in the position in August. "Such a prospect sounded challenging and potentially exciting to me." Hall comes to UD from the University of Texas at El Paso, where she was a professor and chairperson of the Department of Kinesiology. Previously, she taught biomechanics and research methods at California State University at Northridge and biomechanics and computer applications at Oregon State University. With a doctoral degree in physical education, specializing in biomechanics, from Washington State University, Hall has research interests that include exercise efficacy and low-back pain prevention. Biomechanics, she said, is a science that has come into its own since the 1970s, with the development and widespread use of personal computers. Today, increasingly sophisticated computer models are used to study aspects of movement in detailed ways that were virtually impossible to analyze before such technology was available, Hall noted. In her own research, for example, computer analysis has enabled her to determine what styles of lifting are least likely to result in lower-back pain. "Biomechanics is an entirely computer-based science nowadays," Hall said. It is also an interdisciplinary science, she said, involving such fields of study as zoology, engineering and botany. Biomechanists study the motions of not only humans but also a variety of other living things, from the way an ostrich walks to the movement of a tree's leaf as it turns toward the sun. In her new position at UD, Hall views her role as charting a course for the department over the next several years, using a set of goals and expectations shared by members of the faculty as her starting point. "Based on a strategic planning process that was begun before my arrival on campus, it is clear that one new direction the department will pursue will be an increased emphasis on research by faculty, with a concomitant increase in research opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students," she said. Health and exercise sciences, she said, is a distinctive department because it encompasses diverse disciplines, such as exercise science, recreation, health education and sports medicine. "It's extremely eclectic, which is somewhat unusual," she said. "I see that as a real asset for our work and our students." -Ann Manser