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Monday, February 8, 1999 COE Doctoral Student Receives
A University of Georgia graduate student has been named the recipient of the 1999 National Presidential Scholarship Award selected by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Shannon Griffin, a doctoral student in Health Promotion and Behavior in the College of Education's School of Health and Human Performance, had to compete first at the Southern District level, before winning in national competition. Griffin, of Lawrenceville, will be recognized at the AAHPERD Southern District Convention this month in Greensboro, N.C. She will receive the $1,000 scholarship award at the national convention in Boston in April. Criteria for selection includes scholastic proficiency, leadership; school, community and professional activities and character attributes. Griffin's work at UGA has included investigating gender-related differences in health behaviors, primarily exercise behaviors and adherence issues, and worksite health promotion. She co-authored a report on healthy work organizations for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and wrote an article appearing in Perceptual and Motor Skills concerning perceived benefits of habitual exercisers. She also writes a health and fitness column for the weekly Barrow Eagle newspaper in Winder, Ga. As a research assistant, Griffin has worked with the College of Education's Research Office since August 1997. She helps write grant proposals and assists in current research projects by writing research reports and manuscripts, and locating funding for future research endeavors. Griffin has 11 years of professional work experience in the health and fitness field as a health promotion specialist, clinical exercise physiologist and certified fitness trainer. Since January 1998, she has served as Exercise Program Director of Ladies First Fitness at locations in Athens and Winder where she developed and implemented health promotion programs for members and staff. These programs include body fat assessment, cholesterol and blood pressure screenings, smoking cessation programs and weight management programs. She coordinates the adult fitness program schedule and teaches weekly aerobic exercise classes at the two locations. While at Ladies First Fitness, Griffin has also developed and coordinated a children's fitness program, "The Movement Gym," organized in-house training and programming for the staff, and has recruited, interviewed and hired new fitness staff. She also evaluates instructors on a monthly basis. Writer: Michael Childs, 706/542-5889,
mchilds@coe.uga.edu
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