Barbara Brock: 2008 Trustee Medal of the Year Award Winner
Dr. Barbara Brock, HPER alumna and professor of Physical Education, Health and Recreation at Eastern Washington University (EWU) is the recipient of the 2008 Trustees' Medal Award from the EWU Foundation.
The Trustees' Medal Award honors teaching excellence, significant contributions to scholarship and research and accomplishments in the development of academic programs and curricula.
In her 21 years of teaching at Eastern Washington University, Brock has challenged her students to become acutely aware of their leisure choices and discover the satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment they may find through wise choices. She has positioned herself internationally as one of the leading experts in the area of media literacy.
Brock received her BS in biology from Graceland College in 1976, MS in therapeutic recreation from the University of Iowa in 1977, and her doctorate degree in recreation administration and higher education from Indiana University in 1987. Brock began her career at Eastern in 1987 as an assistant professor and has served as professor of recreation management since 1994.
Brock is well known for her innovative research into TV-free lifestyles. She has studied the impact of TV viewing patterns on children's health, physical activity, education and interaction within the family. She has been recognized for her innovative and unique research on the television-free lifestyle. Her study on 1,200 TV-free men, women and children was widely publicized on TV and in several national newspapers and magazines.
Articles about her work have appeared in Time magazine and in numerous other publications, including Parenting, Woman's Day, Family Circle and Good Housekeeping.
She has authored Living Outside the Box: TV-Free Families Share Their Secrets, 2007; Recreation Publicity, a textbook for introduction to marketing and public relations, 1994; Recreation Recipes and Resources, coauthored with Michelle Nelson, 1994, and Noah's Art: 200 Clever Crafts and Creations to Fill the Days, 1992.
During the past two decades, Brock has received numerous research grants including a 2007 National Institute of Health Grant she coauthored with colleagues from the University of Washington for $413,221 to examine the link between television viewing and obesity.
"The EWU theme to challenge our students to Start Something Big is exactly what Barb challenges her students to do," writes Paul Lindholt, PhD, EWU professor of English.
"In turn, they pass that dream on to each life impacted in their recreation-related job, whether their population be young, middle-aged, elderly, challenged, fit, unfit, healthy-minded, depressed, lonely, motivated or stressed out."
Because of her outstanding scholarship, Brock was honored in September 2007 as one of the "Ten Most Influential Authors in Washington State." In April 2007, she was honored as the "Northwest Alliance for Responsible Media Researcher of the Year" for her contributions to excellence in media literacy.
"I think what sets Dr. Brock apart from most scholars I know is her personality," writes Daniel Dustin, PhD, Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the University of Utah. "She is warm and friendly, and she exudes humility even when she is clearly the expert in the room. She does not talk down to people and she interacts with several hundred people as if she were having a personal conversation with each one of them."
Outside the classroom, Brock shines as a member of the community. She organizes an annual sock-drive that benefits several charities and organizations (Crosswalk, House of Charity, Hope House and the Spokane Regional Health District's needle exchange program). Brock also created a scholarship program 10 years ago for students at Volunteers of America's Crosswalk program for homeless teens.
