In recognition of her sustained contributions to the academic discipline of kinesiology, Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of the University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE), was recently inducted into the US National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK) as an international fellow.
NAK’s dual purpose is to encourage and promote the study and educational applications of the art and science of human movement and physical activity, and to honour - by election to its membership - individuals who have significantly contributed to this goal.
“I’m thrilled and honoured to be recognized for work that broadens and deepens an appreciation of the value of our field and raises the profile of the Faculty,” said Kerr on the occasion.
Kerr was nominated for the fellowship by Ira Jacobs, a professor at KPE and president of the Tanenbaum Institute for Science and Sport (TISS), himself a member of NAK.
“Gretchen has a multi-decade record of excellence in generating high impact innovative contributions to the academic discipline of kinesiology, broadly, and to the field of sport psychology, specifically,” said Jacobs. “While advocating for the protection of athletes from maltreatment and abusive coaching, she has inspired constructive action that protects athletes from such abuse and raises public, professional, and political awareness about the issue.”
An expert on gender-based violence in sport, Kerr is frequently commissioned to inform decision-makers in the high-performance sports community about her research, which focuses on athletes’ experiences of maltreatment in sport and the systemic changes needed to advance safe, healthy, inclusive and welcoming sport.
She contributed to the development of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment, a policy mandated by Sport Canada for all national sport organizations, and co-authored Canada’s first national prevalence study of maltreatment among current and former national team members.
Kerr also developed education modules for the Coaching Association of Canada on safe sport and is currently engaged in a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to design, implement and assess an intervention program aimed at creating sport environments that realize the potential and promise of sport.
Her book called Gender-based violence in children’s sports is widely considered to be a landmark in the field.
“The current public and political attention to athlete maltreatment of athletes by coaches was presaged by years of empirical evidence accumulated in the published research of Gretchen and her graduate students,” said Jacobs. “It was my honour and privilege to present her for induction as an international fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology.”