Waneen Spirduso - Biographic Sketch
Education
Dr. Spirduso received her B.S. and Ed.D. in Physical Education (Motor
Control) from The University of Texas at Austin, and her M.S. in Physical
Education from the University of North Carolina - Greensboro.
Professional Experience
Dr. Spirduso, Mauzy Regents Professor of Kinesiology and Health Education
and jointly appointed in the College of Pharmacy, was Chair of the Department
of Kinesiology and Health Education for fourteen years, and served as Interim
Dean of the College of Education for two and one-half years. From 1984
to 1993 she was an Ashbel Smith Professor. Prior to coming to The University
of Texas, she was an Assistant Professor at Boston University, Sargent
College, at North Texas State University, and she taught at Bellaire High
School, Houston, Texas.
Honors and Awards
Dr. Spirduso was designated as the 1986 Texas Association for Health,
Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Scholar, and the 1987 American
Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Scholar.
She was the C. H. McCloy Lecturer (AAHPERD, 1982), The Laura Huelster Lecturer
(University of Illinois, 1985), the Ethel Martus Lawther Lecturer (University
of North Carolina - Greensboro, 1987), the Amy Morris Homans Lecturer (NAPEHE,
1993), the J. Warren Perry Lecturer, SUNY at Buffalo, and the R.Tait McKenzie
Lecturer at the AAHPERD Convention (1996). Dr. Spirduso has received an
Honor Award from the Texas Association for Health, Physical Education,
and Recreation (1983), and the Distinguished Alumni Award from The University
of North Carolina (1982). In 1984 and 1992 she was elected Chair of the
University of Texas Faculty Senate. She is an elected member of the Executive
Board of The University of Texas Institute for Neurological Sciences.
Professional Service
Dr. Spirduso has serves as President of the North American Society
for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, and of the American
Academy for Physical Education.
Academic Activity
Dr. Spirduso's academic interests are in the area of the aging motor
system. Her research and speaking presentations have focused on the effects
of aging, health, and fitness on the information processing that precedes
and accompanies the initiation and control of rapid movements. In collaboration
with colleagues in the College of Pharmacy and the Department of Psychology,
she has conducted several studies in which the components of rapid movement
initiation are investigated via pharmacological, neurophysiological, and
behavioral methods. Her research has been supported by several grants from
the National Institute on Aging, National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, and the National Institute for Mental Health, and currently,
from St. David's Health Care Foundation, Austin, Texas. She has published
4 books, 11 chapters, and 48 research papers in journals such as Brain
Research; Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, Alcohol and Drug Research
(Alcoholism); Psychopharmacology, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport,
Journal of Gerontology, The Gerontologist, Medicine and Science in Sports
and Exercise, and Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. She has been
an invited lecturer at many professional association annual conferences,
and at the Universities of Arizona, California at Los Angeles, California
State-Fullerton, Colorado, Georgia, Georgia State, Illinois, Kent State,
Michigan, Nebraska, South Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Washington State,
Wisconsin, and Teachers College, Columbia University.
