The recipient of the first endowed professorship in West VirginiaUniversitys School of Physical Education plans to use her position to spread the message about childhood fitness �€a growing national issue given the number of obese kids.


Linda Carson, an associate professor and director of the West VirginiaMotorDevelopmentCenter, was named the Ware Distinguished Professor in a ceremony Monday, Feb. 10, in the Coliseums Jerry West Mountaineer Lounge. The Ware Family Foundation established the professorship in honor of School of Physical Education alumni Alfred F. and Dolores Jamison Ware.


“Statistics show that children are overweight but many are undernourished because of the food and activity they choose or the ones chosen for them,”Carson said.”Statistics also show more children choose to be sedentary than active. I am privileged to bear the responsibility of the Ware professorship to try to reverse these trends and impact childrens fitness in West Virginia.”


Carson has been a faculty member in the School of Physical Education for 22 years. Before that, she taught at PurdueUniversity, Davis&ElkinsCollege and New Jersey public schools. A native of Chambersburg, Pa., she has a bachelors degree in health and physical education and a masters degree in physical education from Slippery Rock (Pa.) University and a doctorate in physical education with an emphasis on motor development from WVU .


She started the MotorDevelopmentCenter at WVU in the 1980s as a way of teaching motor skills and active lifestyles to infants, babies, toddlers, preschool and elementary school children. The center �€a collaboration between the School of Physical Education and the Center for Excellence in Disabilities at WVU �€includes such programs as ToddlerSkills for children ages 1-2, KinderSkills for youngsters ages 3-5 and FutureFit for children ages 6-11. U.S. Games, a sporting goods company, named the center a national demonstration and training site in 1999.


Carson also developed the Choosy Kids Club, an after-school fitness education program for elementary school children in Monongalia and surrounding counties. Some 250 children meet twice a week at the Coliseum to learn the value of exercise, nutrition and being tobacco- and drug-free. Choosy, a green character with antennae and sunglasses, is the clubs mascot. Club members have a pledge they recite, secret greeting and club songs. About 20 WVU students from various disciplines staff the meetings, gaining practical experience in teaching childhood fitness.


It is the Choosy Kids Club that Carson wants to expand, using the Ware Distinguished Professorship as her bully pulpit. Her goal is to establish Choosy Kids Clubs in schools across the state and encourage adults to be equally choosy when making decisions on behalf of children. To this end, she is forming partnerships with the Department of Education; Office of Healthy Schools; West Virginia Bureau of Public Health; Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health; CARDIAC Project; the Prevention Research Center at WVU ; Head Start; the Center for Excellence in Disabilities at WVU ; and Forward Southern West Virginia.


“The Ware Distinguished Professorship is providing impetus for this new focus in the MotorDevelopmentCenter,”Carson said.”The WVU community and the state will benefit greatly by the generosity of the Ware Family Foundation, and were so grateful for the familys interest in the well-being of children in the state.”


The Ware professorship is just the latest recognition of Carsons efforts on behalf of kids. She is the recipient of WVU s Outstanding Teacher Award, the Eugene M. Fuller Award for the Most Outstanding Recreation Programming in West Virginia and the PATCH Award for Outstanding Contribution to Community Well-being. She is also a consultant for a childrens television program,”Bloopys Buddies,”which focuses on physical activity, nutrition and safety in preschool children.


Dean Dana Brooks said Carsons credentials speak volumes for why she was selected for the professorship.


“She is a nationally renowned physical education teacher educator,”Brooks said.”The West VirginiaMotorDevelopmentCenter she runs has become a premier child development center in West Virginia and the region. Based upon her outstanding teaching and service, she is highly qualified for this distinguished professorship, and Id like to thank the Ware Family Foundation for its support.”


Al Ware, the founder and chairman emeritus of Amherst FiberOptics, and Dee Ware, a former teacher, said Carsons teaching emphasis on healthy lifestyles melds with their own philosophy of well-being.


“With Dr. Carsons development of the MotorDevelopmentCenter, we know that when children are exposed to physical activity early in their lives, they tend to continue those activities throughout their lives,”Ware said.”Today, with high obesity rates among children, its obvious we need more emphasis on health, physical activity and lifestyle changes.”


Ware �€a native of Rupert, GreenbrierCounty �€serves on the WVU Alumni Association Board of Directors and School of Physical Education Visiting Committee and is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni and School of Physical Education Hall of Fame. Mrs. Ware, who hails from Morgantown, is a supporter of WVU s Stansbury Hall/Wellness Center. The couple reside in Sarasota, Fla., and Franklin, Tenn.


The Ware gift creating the professorship, two Ware Presidential Scholarships and two Ware Student-Athlete Scholarships was made to the WVU Foundation in conjunction with the $250 million Building Greatness Campaign: West Virginia University . Ware serves on the National Campaign Committee.


The WVU Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation that generates and provides support for West VirginiaUniversity. The Building Greatness Campaign is being conducted by the Foundation on behalf of the University.