Jere Gallagher is the Associate Dean of the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh and an associate professor in the Health and Physical Activity Department. Her expertise is in physical activity of children. For over 25 years she has directed the Kinder Kinetics Program- a program for children with and without disabilities between the ages of 3- to 12-years of age. The program received the 2008 United Cerebral Palsy’s 2008 Humanitarian Award.
She has been involved in the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education (AAHPER), Recreation and Dance and the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPAPA). As a member of AAHPERD , she was the Chair of the Council on Physical Education for Children, the Motor Development Academy and the Youth Sport Coalition. In all of these roles she has been involved in research and program development to increase the level of moderate to vigorous physical activity of children.
More recently Gallagher was a consultant for Head Start – Body Start. All these organization are part of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance which gives her extensive experience in assisting children develop a love of movement and therefore increasing their level of physical activity.
Gallagher has published in research in journals such as Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, and Physical Therapy.
Gallagher has co-authored a book on Health and Wellness in Young Children (Sayre, N., & Gallagher, J. (2001) The Young Child and the Environment: Issues Related to Health, Nutrition, Safety, and Physical Activity. Allyn Bacon Publishers). She is currently under negotiation on development of a textbook for pre-K to 6th grade teachers on motor development with an emphasis on physical activity.
Jere Gallagher earned her PhD in 1980 from Louisiana State University in Motor Development and Learning with a minor in Developmental Psychology and Statistics. She has been with the University of Pittsburgh for thirty years teaching our students the importance of physical activity among adolescents and developing programs to promote movement in young children.
Contact Information
Jere Gallagher
School of Education
University of Pittsburgh
5610 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
PHONE: 412-648-1774
EMAIL:
gal@pitt.edu