Bulletin News

03/25/2010 

Peter McGinnis, a SUNY Cortland professor of kinesiology and assistant director of graduate studies, will deliver the keynote address at the institution’s annual Honors Convocation on Saturday, April 17.

The College will recognize 402 students for their academic accomplishments at the event, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Park Center Alumni Arena. An academic procession of SUNY Cortland faculty will open the Honors Convocation. A reception for the honorees and guests will follow in the same location.

Students will be acknowledged for a variety of achievements, including a top five percent ranking in their respective classes and for receiving College-wide and departmental awards and scholarships. The Donald Parish Brooks Scholarship Award will be presented to the residence hall having the highest cumulative grade point average.

Bonnie Hodges, professor and chair of health, will carry the mace during the procession. Carrying the ceremonial gonfalons will be Jeffrey Bauer, associate professor of kinesiology; William “Bill” Buxton, associate professor and chair of literacy; Kathleen Burke, associate professor of economics; and Susan Wilson, associate professor of recreation, parks and leisure studies.

Readers for the ceremony are Distinguished Service Professor Robert J. Spitzer, professor and chair of political science; and Professor Emeritus of English Arnold Talentino, coordinator of the College’s Honors Program.

McGinnis, who has served the College for 20 years, will give an address titled “Lessons Learned from Pole Vaulting.”

“I’ll share some of the life lessons I have learned as a pole vaulter, coach and sport scientist,” McGinnis said.

The author of Biomechanics of Sport and Exercise, originally released in 1999 by Human Kinetics Publishers with a second edition published in 2005, McGinnis is a respected authority on the biomechanics of pole vaulting and safety in this sport. He also coaches pole vaulters at SUNY Cortland. In 2009, he was named the Atlantic Region Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The Syracuse Chargers Track Club recently honored him as its 2009 Male Masters Field Athlete of the Year.                

Since 2004, he has served as assistant director of graduate studies while continuing to teach. His administrative role encompasses many duties, including interaction with graduate students on all aspects of program completion, from pre-admissions to degree conferral.

He was previously involved with graduate studies as the graduate coordinator for exercise science and chair of the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee.  He continues to serve as the graduate coordinator for exercise science.

Born in Aiken, S.C., McGinnis lived in Maryland and Delaware before earning a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Swarthmore College in 1976. He completed graduate studies at the University of Delaware and obtained a Master of Science in Physical Education from the University of Illinois in Urbana, Ill. In 1984, he earned a doctorate in physical education from the University of Illinois. Concentrating on biomechanics, he wrote a dissertation on “Finite Element Analysis of a Human-Implement System in Sport: The Pole Vault.”

As co-chair of the Pole Vault Helmet Task Group and Chair of the Pole Vault Equipment Subcommittee of the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), McGinnis worked to develop a standard for pole vaulting helmets and pole vault landing pads. Also as a result of his committee work, the National Federation of State High School Associations and the National Collegiate Athletic Conference increased the minimum size of pole vault landing pads and required padding around the uprights and the pole vault box. He presented a clinic on “Safer Pole Vaulting in the New Millennium” at the 2002 annual meeting of the U.S. Track Coaches Association.

McGinnis was interviewed in 2000 by ABC News about the physics of pole vaulting and had a brief appearance on the HBO show “Real Sports” in 2002 on pole vaulting safety. In 2000, a video clip of pole vaulting that he filmed was one of the lead-in videos to the feature, “High Tech Sports,” which appeared on the PBS show “The NewsHour” with Jim Lehrer.

Before joining the College, McGinnis was assistant professor in the Kinesiology Department at University of Northern Colorado and visiting sport scientist at the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1987-90. Previously, he taught for four years in the University of Oregon’s Physical Education and Human Movement Studies Department.

He joined SUNY Cortland’s Physical Education Department in 1990 as an associate professor and was promoted to the rank of professor in 1999.

He has lectured on the biomechanics of pole vaulters at state, national and international professional conferences. He has presented at the Third International Olympic Committee Congress on Sport Sciences and the IV World Congress of Biomechanics in Calgary, Alberta.                               

The Honors Convocation Committee is co-chaired by Joy Mosher, interim director of graduate studies; and Mary Gfeller, assistant professor of mathematics.

Committee members include Sila Argyle, supervising janitor for physical plant; Nancy Aumann, associate provost for academic affairs; Darci Bacigalupi, special events coordinator; Philip Buckenmeyer, associate professor and chair of kinesiology; Mark Dodds, assistant professor and chair of sport management; Janet Duncan, associate professor of foundations and social advocacy; Stacey Goldyn-Moller, executive director of alumni affairs; R. Lawrence Klotz, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and professor of biological sciences; Kimberly Kraebel, associate professor of psychology; Virginia B. Levine, executive assistant to the president; Kevin Pristash ’85, M.A. ’91, associate director of Corey Union; Tracy Rammacher, director of publications and electronic media; Anne Marie Rossi, student representative; David Smukler, assistant professor of foundations and social advocacy; Brad Snyder, associate director in Classroom Media Services; Matthew Tomasi, student representative; Stephen Wilson, professor of performing arts; Susan Wilson, associate professor of recreation, parks and leisure studies; and Christopher Xenakis, lecturer in political science.

For more information, contact Darci Bacigalupi at (607) 753-5453 or darci.bacigalupi@cortland.edu.