A Ball State University physical education professor was named Educator of the Year by a national organization of professors and trainers.
David Pearson, an associate professor of physical education and director of the strength research laboratory, received the honor from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, a 30,000-member group of which he has been a part for more than 20 years.
Pearson was the university's first strength and conditioning coach for intercollegiate athletics.
"There were people in the audience [at the ceremony] who deserved the award more than I did," Pearson said. "It's very humbling."
Pearson not only teaches anatomy and strength and conditioning theory for Ball State University, but he is also the advisor of the school's student chapter of National Strength and Conditioning Association, the longest existing student chapter, and he writes "Straight From the Lab," a column in Men's Health magazine. He says that it is the combination of being a researcher and an educator might have contributed to his receiving the award.
"There has to be a mix between a teacher and a researcher," Pearson said. "It's not enough to do or read the research, you have to apply it. One of the things I've been blessed with is the ability to look at the research and then explain it in the real world."
The association's appreciation of this dual focus might be best explained through an examination of the group's membership. Pearson said that early on, the organization was strictly an education-based group. However, throughout the years, the organization has attracted members of the scientific research and personal fitness communities.
"If we were to just look at how many identify themselves as professors now, I'd say about 20 percent," Pearson said.
Pearson's edge for winning the award might also have been that a Ball State name appears in Men's Health magazine, the world's longest running men's magazine.
"Men's Health is a very well-researched magazine," Pearson said. "It's amazing how, over the years, I've had students in my class say they've read some of my work in there. The visibility it gives Ball State is great."
However, for all the recognition, Pearson is quick to dismiss any notion that he earned the award on his own.
"It's more than Dave Pearson that is involved in the exercise science program," he said. "This just helps show the caliber of the program here."
Pearson, who received his doctorate in human bioenergetics in 1987 from Ball State, has been the director of the university's strength research lab since its creation in 2003. In 2005, he was named to the advisory board of Cuts for Men, a national men's fitness company, and he has served on the medical advisory board for Men's Health for more than 10 years.
His areas of research include rehabilitation of postsurgical athletes, optimal conditioning and athletic performance, enhancing performance through nutritional supplementation and carbohydrate and protein feedings for performance.
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