Live Well Middle School Health

Karen E. McConnell, PhD, a professor at Pacific Lutheran University, is a certified health education specialist (CHES) and has taught at the university level for more than 23 years in areas related to health and fitness education, curriculum and assessment, and exercise science. She has written or contributed to over a dozen book chapters and texts, including Health for Life and Health Opportunities Through Physical Education, as well as the teacher resources for the fifth and sixth editions of Fitness for Life. She is a recipient of the Arthur Broten Young Scholar Award and has received the University Professional of the Year Award from the Washington Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance for contributions made to state standards in health and fitness. She enjoys running and participating in most outdoor activities.

Terri D. Farrar, PhD, is an associate professor and director of the kinesiology baccalaureate program at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. She has taught health and fitness education at the middle school and high school levels for over 27 years and has taught health and fitness pedagogy at Pacific Lutheran University for 10 years. She coauthored the Health for Life and Health Opportunities Through Physical Education textbooks and teacher resources. She is a member of SHAPE America (Society of Health and Physical Educators) and of the Washington chapter of SHAPE America. She was SHAPE Washington's University Professor of the Year in 2019 and is the assessment chairperson for SHAPE Washington. She enjoys traveling, working out, and coaching.

Charles B. ("Chuck") Corbin, PhD, is a professor emeritus in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion at Arizona State University. He coauthored two health series for use in grades K through 8 and is the senior author of several award-winning elementary, middle school, high school, and college texts, including Fitness for Life: Elementary School, Fitness for Life: Middle School, and the sixth edition of Fitness for Life, all of which were winners of Texty Awards, awarded by the Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA). He also authored the 17th edition of Concepts of Physical Fitness, winner of the TAA's McGuffey Award. His books are the most widely adopted public school and college texts in the area of fitness, health, and wellness. Dr. Corbin is internationally recognized as an expert in physical activity, health, and wellness promotion and youth physical fitness. He has presented keynote addresses at more than 40 state AHPERD conventions, made major addresses in more than 15 countries, and presented numerous named lectures. Among his many honors are the Gulick Award from SHAPE America (Society of Health and Physical Educators); the Healthy American Fitness Leaders Award from the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition and the National Jaycees; and the Hetherington Award from the National Academy of Kinesiology. He was named the Alliance Scholar by SHAPE America, selected as the Cureton Lecturer by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and named to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) Hall of Fame. He served for more than 20 years as a member of the FitnessGram advisory board and was the first chair of the Science Board of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.