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The best thing about studying Applied Exercise Science at UNE is an extremely well-rounded approach to the subject matter and a strong knowledge-base of the human body. Professors have a deep understanding of how the body’s basic physiology changes from things like sickness or exercise, and they really share that with students. You get to learn when the body is at its weakest or at its strongest.

Now, I’m getting my master’s in exercise science. Â鶹´«Ã½helped me get there by preparing me for the rigor of a master’s degree and also by providing a connection to other universities for post-grad.

Beyond the Classroom

After joining my first year and doing some hiking in the Whites — I had never hiked in the White Mountains until my first-year orientation trailblazer trip — I heard about this thing called the 48 4,000-footers. It’s a challenge where you do all 48 of the 4,000-foot mountains in New Hampshire. I decided then that I was going to try to do them all in the four years before I graduated.

Eleven of the 4,000-footers are grouped together there in a 30-mile ring called the Pemigewasset Wilderness. I’ve had some truly amazing moments in that wilderness on those peaks. It’s my favorite place in the world right now. Another thing that’s cool is that the Whites are only about an hour and a half to two hours away from Â鶹´«Ã½so it’s a really doable challenge if you space it out across four years.

These kinds of endurance events are furthered by my studies in AES about learning how the body reacts in those situations — to train the body to take something that seems super hard so that it feels like it was not super hard after the proper training and adaptations.

Working in Title IX is never boring. During my first years at UNE, on the national stage the Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Education were doing a lot of renewed and public guidance about universities’ obligations under Title IX. The University recognized the importance and priority of Title IX, and I was looking for a new opportunity, so I was asked to take on Title IX in full.

Title IX is a huge umbrella. Essentially, the core of Title IX is access to education and removing barriers to access that could be related to gender. Accessing education is special, and we want to help facilitate that in the safest way possible.

It has to do with protections and supports for sexual harassment and sexual assault. It’s also about equity in athletics. It also protects pregnant parents and their student rights, and it expands to gender identity and expressions too. These issues are all very different things, so I need to be an expert and create many partnerships with different areas of the University and beyond.

Student Centeredness

My primary job is oversight of the University to make sure that we are consistent with our policies and with how we address issues. The other thing that comes out of my office is assessing the culture and climate in our programs to ensure that we are being equitable with regards to gender.

We want to make sure that we are supporting and providing resources for our students, faculty, and staff. Much of that work is prevention. The best way to respond to things is before they happen, so it is critical to have a strong prevention program.

People know who we are and understand the issues. They understand that they can get help, so if there's a concern — maybe it's biased behavior in a classroom or a residence hall — we can get on top of that by working with them before it becomes a discrimination issue.