Greg Welk

College of Human Sciences
Established to recognize faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in research and/or creative activity at the mid-career stage.

 

Greg Welk

Associate Professor

Kinesiology

 

Mid-Career Achievement in Research Award

 

Greg Welk has established himself as a national leader in developing and evaluating methods to measure physical activity – and creating intervention programs that promote exercise and healthy eating among young people.

Welk was a key contributor in the refinement and dissemination of FITNESSGRAM, a software tool employed by physical education teachers across the country to determine the fitness levels of their students. He is also the co-author of “Physical Activity Assessments for Health Related Research,” which one colleague called “the bible for researchers interested in the assessment of physical activity.”

In addition to many studies aimed at evaluating physical activity assessments, Welk’s catalogue of more than 50 peer-reviewed articles includes one of the first public health models for promoting physical activity to effectively link theory and practice. He is an investigator on eight active research grants with six different agencies and has worked with such prestigious organizations as the National Institutes of Health and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, generating more than $3 million in funding.

Welk has also been continually and consistently involved in national and international conferences on youth fitness. As one colleague noted, “When planners of such meetings begin thinking about who should be involved, I am absolutely confident that one of the first people they think of is Greg Welk.”

Welk’s commitment to research that truly improves public health has earned him a sterling reputation among his peers – one that seems certain to grow throughout the remainder of an already-impressive career.