Since 1997, the classes I have been mainly responsible for have been confined to senior level undergraduate and graduate classes.  Prior to 1996, I taught 3 classes each semester (9 total semester credit hours) and one 3 credit hour class in the summer. However, since 1996 I have had a once course release each semester for directing the Center For Exercise and Applied Human Physiology (CEAHP), which encompasses the teaching and research facilities of the Exercise Science Program.

The table below lists the courses that I now mainly teach, and the additional courses that I have previously taught when required.

I also have a heavy graduate student advisement and mentoring load.  During the last five years I have mentored on average approximately 6 Masters students and 12 Ph.D. students every semester.  At times, such a load has me funding and supervising up to 3 Ph.D. dissertations and 1 to 2 Masters theses each semester.  As many of you might be fully aware, this mentoring involves my time in all phases of thesis/dissertation development;

Obviously, I interact with the student during all phases/components.  Once the procedures are in place, I am confident that the student and his/her additional research team are well trained and competent in all procedures, and I have been tested as the first subject (when appropriate), the student is responsible for organizing the research team and collecting all of the data for the remaining subjects.  However, there are some projects where I have to assist with all data collection due to the sophistication of the study.

Obviously, this load is far from ideal (<4 Ph.D. students total at any one time), and has evolved due to the early retirement of one faculty, the recent filling of this position, the recent retirement of another faculty, and the current job search for a replacement.  It is the intention of the faculty to reduce the graduate student load to approximately 4 students/faculty member.

This mentoring situation also requires that I be on almost every graduate student comprehensive exam and thesis/dissertation committee.  This requirement can cause me to function on anywhere from 6 to 12 graduate student committees each semester, involving academic assessment, preliminary research design, and proof reading/editing of thesis/dissertation chapters and subsequent manuscripts.

As indicated by having this content in this section, I view the thesis and dissertation process to be more of a learning/teaching process than a pure research endeavor.  However, I use the thesis and dissertation to be a large component of my own research agenda, as I explain in detail in my section on Research.