PDC director to replace retired professor Davis

Beez Schell, director of the Professional Development Center (PDC), has been named the sports management and exercise science department chair. Schell takes over the department after former chair Charles Davis retired suddenly last March.

Virginia Horvath, vice president for Academic Affairs, announced on April 20 that Schell would take over the sports management and exercise science department for a three year term, effective July 1, 2010. “Although best known on campus in her role as Director of the Professional Development Center,” Horvath said, “she is also a professor in the department of sport management and exercise science and is well suited for this leadership position.”

As director, Schell helped open the PDC in 2008 to provide educational opportunities for Fredonia faculty and staff. Schell said she plans to stay on as director of the PDC next year while two coordinators are expected to take on a more direct role. She added that if the school budget would allow it, she would consider being the sports management and exercise science chair while leaving the PDC director position for a faculty member.

Schell takes over a department that currently holds 90 students in the sports management major and 74 students in the exercise science major. She said she will look into the possibility of hiring new faculty members for the department, which currently has 219 total students, including students in interdisciplinary and minor programs.

According to Schell, careers in sports management and health sciences have been booming. She said jobs in physical fitness, chiropractic and occupational therapy have steadily increased over the last few years. “Several students even want to be sports agents,” she said.

Schell currently teaches a Sport and American Cultures class at Fredonia, which was offered for the first time this semester. As director of the PDC, Schell was required to teach at least one class. Starting next year, Schell will be teaching three classes, one in the fall and two in the spring. “I kind of need some time to get my feet underneath it and get settled [while] getting a lay of the land,” Schell said.

Penny Hite, lecturer in the sports management and exercise science department, replaced Davis and has been the interim chair since Davis retired a week before Spring Break. According to Public Relations director Michael Barone, Davis took advantage of a retirement incentive program which is a six-month salary equivalency for faculty. There was speculation of criminal activity tied to Davis leaving but no charges were ever filed.