KERRY M JACQUES, MS portrait
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Health and Kinesiology
  • Coordinator, Fitness and Wellness Specialist Emphasis, Health and Kinesiology
  • Director, Human Performance Laboratory, Health and Kinesiology
  • Associate Professor (Lecturer), Health and Kinesiology

Current Courses

Fall 2024

  • KINES 250-090
    Found of Kinesiology
  • KINES 2500-090
    Found of Kinesiology
  • KINES 3092-001
    Kinesiology
  • KINES 4465-002
    ExProg:Assess & Deliver

Spring 2024

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is to actively engage students in the learning process.  This includes helping students to discuss the course material with their peers, helping students learn how to interpret science and lay information in the exercise sciences, and improving the students’ critical reading and critical thinking skills.  I also hope to help students apply what they are learning in the classroom to their every day lives and experiences.  Learning should be challenging, but also exciting and rewarding, and it is my role to facilitate this process and be enthusiastic about the learning process and the knowledge obtained. 

Courses I Teach

  • ESS 2500 - EXPLORATION OF THE MOVEMENT SCIENCES
    This is an introduction to the Exercise and Sport Science (ESS) major. Students will learn about the four emphases of ESS (Athletic Training, Exercise and Sport Science, Fitness and Wellness Specialist, Physical Education Training Education). A second purpose of the course is to help students understand the research process. Students will research within each emphasis and use their knowledge of the emphases to develop and answer a research question and develop a research project. This course is designed for students who are newly declared to the major or are contemplating declaring the major.
  • ESS 3670 - Physical Activity Epidemiology
    On a daily basis we are bombarded with myriad claims for exercise and fitness. Much of this information is confusing and contradictory. In this course, the scientific method will be used as a basis for evaluating the exercise/fitness literature relative to the impact of physical behaviors on specific disease processes. Special attention will also be given to examining the influence of public policies and social/cultural variables on physical activity behaviors and related health indices.
  • ESS 4465 - Exercise Programming: Assessment and Delivery
    Evaluating fitness and prescribing exercise are the hallmarks of exercise leadership. This class prepares students to learn basic skills associated with screening clients for exercise participation, conducting basic fitness assessments, interpreting fitness test results, and constructing exercise prescriptions to meet clients’ unique needs. This class will also focus on how to address the connection between physical fitness and health states with clients.
  • ESS 4810 - Fitness & Health Specialist Supervised Internship
    The primary objective of this course is for students to gain practical experience in fitness leadership by participating at an approved internship site. All internships must be 240 hours in length, and the method by which those hours are attained will be determined by the student in collaboration with the internship supervisor. An accounting of the hours completed at the site(s) should be included in the final portfolio (see below) as well as included in the biweekly email correspondence. Although it is likely that the specific nature of activities will vary, in order to meet the primary objective, most internships will involve some or all of the following: • Conducting fitness tests • Interpreting fitness test results • Prescribing fitness programs • Leading exercise classes • Training individual clients • Conducting wellness-related seminars • Creating educational documents for the internship site • Learning about managerial aspects of the fitness industry Internship activities will be performed under the guidance of a site supervisor and a faculty representative.
  • ESS 4900 - Promoting Physical Activity in the Community
    ESS 4900 has been implemented to provide ESS students with the opportunity to become more culturally competent in promoting physical activity in diverse communities. This will be accomplished by having students: 1. Consider how personal identity, relative to social factors (such as race, age, gender, and class), influences personal physical activity choices. 2. Examine how personal identity, relative to social factors, influences community-based physical activity programming practices and policy decisions. 3. Identify "environmental" barriers (i.e., culture, physical surroundings, economic constrains) to movement behaviors, which are specific to a given community. 4. Integrate theoretical physical activity program planning principles with practical considerations for physical and mental health issues facing underserved populations. 5. Engage in the process of problem solving and working collaboratively with community members as well as other exercise and sport science professionals. 6. Use the reflective process to foster the development of personal and professional cultural competence. 7. Become sensitive to messages about diversity-related topics and physical activity promotion as they appear in the lay media.
  • ESS 6350 - Exercise Electrocardiography and Stress Testing
    An understanding of cardiac physiology and electrocardiography is an important aspect of clinical exercise physiology. This course is designed to fill the needs of students who desire the ability to interpret resting and exercise EKGs and to differentiate normal rhythms from rhythm disturbances. This class will also prepare students to learn basic skills associated with screening clients for exercise testing, conducting graded exercises tests (GXTs), interpreting GXT results, and constructing cardiorespiratory exercise prescriptions to meet individual clients’ unique needs.

Teaching Projects

  • Implementation of E-Portfolios for Use by Undergraduate Students Pursuing a Degree in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science. Project Lead: Kerry Jacques. Collaborators: Traci Thompson, Kha Ngyuen. USET 08/2014 - 05/2015.
  • E-portfolios: Tracking Student Learning Outcomes. Project Lead: Kerry Jacques. 01/2014 - present.
  • Flipped Classroom: How to engage and promote an active learning environment in ESS 3670 PA Epidemiology. Project Lead: Kerry Jacques. 08/2013 - present.
  • Bennion Center Community Engaged Faculty Fellow . Project Lead: Bennion Center. 08/16/2012 - 08/16/2013.
  • • Bennion Center Community Engaged Faculty Fellow . Project Lead: Kerrt. 08/2012 - 08/2013.
  • Exercise Programming in the Community. Project Lead: Kerry Jacques. Collaborators: ESS 4465 Students. 08/15/2011 - present.

Student Projects

  • Does In Class Discussion Influence Student Learning and Perception of Learning? Claire Henriod. 06/15/2010 - 05/15/2011