Lobby of Faculty of Human Kinetics building.

History

Dr. Richard Moriarty

The University of Windsor's Faculty of Human Kinetics dates to 1965 when it was known as the School of Physical and Health Education. Founding director P.J. Galasso, joined by fellow professors R.J. Moriarty and R. Hermiston in early 1966, offered two separate degree programs — a one-year post-BA degree (Bachelor of Physical Education), or a combined BA-BPHE degree. In 1968, this degree format was abandoned with the school offering a  four-year BPHE (Honours).

The Physical Health Education complex on College Avenue was among the best designed and equipped in Canada at the time. The three-storey main building had closed-circuit television capability in its classrooms. It had laboratory facilities for anatomy, exercise physiology, motor learning, cinematography, electromyography, and electrogoniometry. There were spaces for individual research projects, in addition to supporting workshops, an animal laboratory and quarters for rats, monkeys and rabbits. Outside, there were playing fields, softball diamonds, and an all-weather track with grandstands.

The first graduates of the new Honours program graduated in 1969.

With the appointment of nine new faculty members in 1969, the School of Physical and Health Education became only the second faculty in the Commonwealth in this field of study. During the early 1970s, the Faculty revised its undergraduate program to include four separate streams:

Kinesiology
Applied Kinesiology
Physical Education
Health Studies

In 1974 the Faculty changed its name from the Faculty of Physical and Health Education to the Faculty of Human Kinetics.

The decreasing number of teaching jobs and the increasing attention to the disciplinary aspects of the field led to a consolidation of the four streams down to three in 1981. Further curricular revisions were made throughout the 1980s and 1990s, lowering the Honours degree course requirements from 52 to the current 40 courses. The requirement to take a number of activity courses (practica), was also dropped in 1996. At that time the current 20-course majors in Leisure and Sport Management and Movement Science were developed. The majors were preceded by a two-year core consisting of beginning level courses in all sub-disciplinary areas of Kinesiology. With minor modifications, this is the current undergraduate degree program in Kinesiology that leads to a Bachelor of Human Kinetics (Honours). It is also a program that meets the Kinesiology Accreditation Standards as outlined by the Canadian Council of University Physical Education and Kinesiology Administrators (CCUPEKA).

In the spring 2002 Convocation, our 2,000th graduate walked across the stage, receiving congratulations from the then University President Dr. Ross Paul.

Dr. Dick Moriarty, UWindsor's first athletic director, maintains a personal website dedicated to the dynamic, athletic history of the former Assumption College and the University of Windsor.