In the Spotlight: Associate Professor of Exercise and Sport Sciences Russell Medbery
Associate Professor of Exercise and Sport Sciences Russell Medbery is an AASP-Certified Sport Psychology Consultant who worked as a curriculum development specialist at the American Sport Education Program before coming to Colby-Sawyer College. While in that position, Professor Medbery worked with a number of national governing bodies of sport, including the U.S. Tennis Association, USA Volleyball, and the National Federation of High Schools. Dr. Medbery was also a technical consultant on a number of sport and coaching educational videos and acted as an acquisitions editor for print materials. Now in his eighth year at Colby-Sawyer, he most enjoys connecting with his students in the classroom.
What is your favorite part of teaching at Colby-Sawyer?
In addition to being able to teach Sport and Exercise Psychology, the best part of my job is the interdisciplinary focus of the college that has given me the opportunity to teach with faculty in history and psychology, as well as to collaborate on projects with faculty and staff in humanities, natural sciences and athletics. Of course, none of this would be possible without the students who take and contribute to these courses.
How do your students inspire you?
I'm often amazed by the histories of some of our students. Many students have life experiences or learning challenges that force them to really work at their academics. In addition, Colby-Sawyer students have a reputation for being very nice people.
What are the aspects of our program that stand out?
Nationally there are few undergraduate, liberal education schools that include Exercise and Sport Sciences programs. Our methods of combining the focus on critical thinking skills, using multiple perspectives to address challenges, and teaching discipline-specific training help to make Colby-Sawyer College students majoring in Athletic Training, Exercise Science or Sport Management uniquely flexible in their approach to their professions. In addition, the small class sizes allow faculty and students to clearly identify strengths and weaknesses and to work efficiently and in a focused manner on academic challenge areas.
What are some of your favorite teaching experiences?
In general, my favorite moments are when students have an "ah ha" moment putting together concepts in a class. It's also gratifying when students are engaged in a class to the extent that they talk about class topics outside of class with other students who are not in the class. It's also exciting when students take full responsibility for learning and independently look for ways to further their knowledge on a topic related to class.
What's the one class you'd like to have students know about?
The one class I would like students to know about is Psychological Aspects of Sport (PSY303). My academic passion and training is in Sport and Exercise Psychology, so I'm fortunate to be able to teach Psychological Aspects of Sport at Colby-Sawyer. In this course we explore the mental aspects of human performance.
In this exploration we examine personality, achievement motivation, and emotion as fundamental components of sport performance. We also examine social psychology issues of group and team dynamics. Finally, we look at strategies and the evidence for the effectiveness of those strategies, for improving specific mental skills, such as focus, emotional control, goal setting and imagery.
In January 2010, Professor Medbery will start his term as chair of the Exercise and Sport Sciences Department.
This article is from "On the Hill," the newsletter of Colby-Sawyer's Admissions Office. Read more of the newsletter here.
