Faculty/Staff Detail

John Foley

John T. Foley, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Physical Education at the State University of New York at Cortland. Dr. Foley teaches both measurement and adapted physical education classes at the graduate and undergraduate levels and is the director of the Physical Activity Laboratory. He is an active member of the SUNY Cortland Institute for Disability Studies and is past-President of the North American Federation of Adapted Physical Activity and Fellow of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Research Consortium.

Dr Foley’s research focuses on ways to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviors in children with disabilities. He has over 20 years of experience working with individuals with disabilities in various sport, recreational, and fitness environments. These experiences include guiding alpine skiers with visual impairments at the United States National Championships; working with community-based programs to increase recreational opportunities for individuals with traumatic brain injury and intellectual disabilities; and running an exercise program for individuals with multiple sclerosis. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals in the fields of public health, exercise science and adapted physical activity.

As part of collaborative group, Dr Foley has worked with colleagues from SUNY Upstate and SUNY Brockport to develop a training DVD for teachers working with children with visual impairments.

His current joint research projects include the use of group medical visits to increase physical activity in youth with spina bifida (with SUNY Upstate Medical) and the use of auditory and tactical based active games to increase physical activity in youth with visual impairments (with University of Nevada at Reno).