Marita Cardinal

MARITA CARDINAL is currently a Professor in the Division of Health and Physical Education at Western Oregon University.  She teaches courses for both the Division of Health and Physical Education and the Department of Dance in the areas of dance, exercise/fitness, and elementary physical education teacher education and dancer wellness, conditioning, and kinesiology.  She received her bachelors and masters degrees from Eastern Washington University and her doctoral degree from Temple University and previously served as a faculty member at Wayne State University.  Her research has focused on curricular models for dance wellness education, conditioning programs for dancers, creative movement integration in elementary classrooms, and strategies for health and physical activity behavior change.  Her publications can be found in the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science; Medical Problems of Performing Artists; IMPULSE: the International Journal of Dance Science, Medicine, and Education; Kinesiology and Medicine for Dance; Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport; Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise; and the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, among others. She has given over 30 research presentations at the national and international levels, including two invited lectures in dance wellness and education in South Korea in 1995 and 2007.  She served on the National Dance Association (NDA) Board as Publications Director, on the Research Consortium Board as NDA Representative, as Research Chairperson for the NDA, and currently serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Dance Education.  Most recently, she has been awarded the 2008 Mario & Alma Pastega Award for Excellence in Scholarship at Western Oregon University and the 2009 NDA Scholar/Artist Award.