by Bob Whitton The end of 1992 will mark the completion of 25 years of existence for UW's kinesiology department. Formation of the department was approved at the December, 1967, meeting of senate. Setting up a kinesiology department was highly innovative at the time. By and large, the public in those days had no idea what the word "kinesiology" meant. This was true even as recently as the late '70s. But today use of the word kinesiology has become almost commonplace -- certainly in newspaper sports pages. And there are literally hundreds of kinesiology departments in colleges and universities all across the continent. Waterloo's kinesiology department was almost the first in the world -- but not quite. "Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, beat us by a few months," admits Dr. Norman Ashton. "At the time we didn't know they were even thinking of a kinesiology program, and they didn't know we were. It was quite a coincidence that two newer Canadian universities should come up with parallel programs, under the same name, almost simultaneously." He says the Simon Fraser program has a sharper focus on the physical and biological sciences, whereas Waterloo's has a somewhat stronger social science emphasis, involving behavioural psychologists and sociologists. Ashton seems reluctant to admit it, but if there is a single individual who deserves credit for the innovation and its subsequent success, it is probably he. He came to Waterloo in the fall of 1965, after having served as a lecturer at McGill, a coach (swimming and water polo), a director of athletics for the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, a recreation therapist (after completing a master's degree at the University of Michigan in 1957), and after seven years as a consultant to the Canadian armed forces, helping develop the renowned XBX and 5BX fitness programs. On his arrival on campus, Ashton immediately found himself caught up in the development of a four-year physical education degree program; the university had already established a one-year program, largely to meet the needs of people wanting to become high school physical education teachers. "Thus we already had a small group of physical and health education teachers," he recalls. "In the fall of 1966, I was invited to deliver a paper on our proposed new four-year program at a seminar at the University of Western Ontario. I began working on it and as I did so I started to feel that what we ought to do would be to involve ourselves in a completely new approach." He came to feel there was a need for a program unlike any other in Canada -- or anywhere else in the world at the time. Such a program would be concerned with more than sports skills, or coaching or teaching them; rather, it would have to do with "the substantive material that makes the process work, that is, with what makes it possible for a human to run, throw a ball, shoot a hockey puck or climb a ladder. What are the biomechanical, physiological, anatomical factors involved? And in what ways are psychological or social interactions involved?" Ashton realized this would represent a deeper, more academic approach to physical activity than was provided by conventional physical education programs. Still, it promised to produce graduates who would themselves be "problems solvers and recipe concocters" and not just "glib users" of scientific and research findings. This concept met with considerable opposition from many who were involved in traditional phys ed programs. "They thought we were selling them down the river," Ashton summarizes. "So there was a background of considerable acrimony when we at Waterloo made our decision in favor of developing a kinesiology program. But we were convinced that traditional physical education programs, though they taught sports skills, health education, and so forth, failed to provide students with enough background information to understand these very processes." He says the UW program was able to get off the ground, a quarter of a century ago, thanks to a "happy coincidence" of favourable factors. One of these had to do with the fact that Waterloo was a young, dynamic institution that had no hesitation about trying new things as long as they seemed promising. In part, this may have been because the university didn't have much to lose -- there were no long-term vested interests. (Ashton wonders if this is still so.) "Thus we received support from all levels of the central administration," Ashton recalls. He himself served for a time as interim dean for his faculty, which is now called applied health sciences. Another important positive factor had to do with the nature of teacher education in Ontario. It is completely separate from undergraduate education. Thus a would-be teacher acquires a background in a particular discipline (languages, science, mathematics, history, etc.) while at university, and moves along to a college of education to sharpen his or her pedagogical skills. This left Ashton, and those who agreed with him, with the desire to make sure the backgrounding that Waterloo wanted to provide for would-be phys ed teachers would be considered on a par, academically, with that provided by any other department. "We wanted our kinesiology department to have the same academic status and integrity as one would expect of a languages, mathematics, or science department." The fact that Waterloo is a co-op university, where vast numbers of students alternate between campus studies and work term jobs every four months, provided additional reason for supporters of the proposed new program to anticipate success. They felt that because of their work term experiences, the students would find additional job opportunities available on graduation -- apart from jobs as phys ed teachers. Job possibilities were anticipated in both the public service and industry, and the hopes have come true. Graduates have found entirely new kinds of careers, as kinesiologists in rehabilitation units of hospitals, in the ergonomics field in industry (having to do with making machines or technology easier, or safer, for people to use), and in other areas. That the UW kinesiology program has been a success is undeniable. The number of faculty (four, initially) has multiplied to a couple of dozen. Their research funding keeps increasing, despite the money squeeze all universities and government funding agencies are currently undergoing. Because kinesiology is a subject that crosses traditional disciplines, UW faculty have diverse research interests and research funding comes from a variety of sources. The number of students has increased dramatically, to about 550 undergraduates and 60 graduates. The academic qualifications of first year students has risen steadily; the program attracts high quality students in substantial numbers. And when they graduate, the students are finding careers that in many instances did not even exist 25 years ago. Some have gone on to become respected academics in their own right-- including Dr. Jim Frank, a former kinesiology student who is now an associate professor and chair of the department. Two spin-off departments have evolved: dance, and health studies. These, along with the recreation and leisure studies department make up the AHS faculty. The faculty has its own building, Matthews Hall; it also occupies part of East Campus Hall and is planning, jointly with the school of optometry, to acquire a new building for growing clinical programs in optometry, kinesiology and health studies. Small wonder the kinesiology concept has spread so rapidly -- though UW faculty members insist not every university with a kinesiology department is as committed to the concept as Waterloo; some have merely adopted the new name, leaving their programs little changed from the old phys ed days. For instance, the mastering of a certain number of sports skills is still a requirement for graduation on some campuses, though this is no longer a degree requirement at Waterloo. Now that Ashton is nearing the end of his own university career (his retirement is slated for August 1993) one could hardly begrudge him a feeling of gratification as he looks back over the history and development of UW's kinesiology program.. Perhaps nothing reminds him of its success more than the fact that a young first year student he once taught, years ago, Jim Frank, has now become his boss. He's sure things are in good hands, and the success of the program is going to continue.