Darla Castelli, PhD
Associate Professor
Curriculum and Instruction; Physical Education
College of Education

CONTACT INFORMATION
Office: 512-232-7636
E-mail: dcastelli@mail.utexas.edu

WEB PAGE
http://www.edb.utexas.edu/education/faculty/view.php?ID_PK=0...

BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Darla Castelli has been working with school-age youth in physical activity settings for over 20 years. After obtaining her master's degree from Northern Illinois University in exercise physiology, she went on to teach health and physical education before becoming an administrator in Maine. During this time, Darla served as the president of the Maine Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance while obtaining Teacher of the Year honors in 1995 for her work at Kennebunk High School. Since 2002, when Darla obtained her Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina under the direction of Dr. Judith Rink, she has been investigating the effects of physical activity and fitness on motor competency and cognitive health in children. Her research with Dr. Charles Hillman suggests that the trait of physical fitness and behaviors of physical activity and motor competency have a positive influence on cognitive processing such as academic achievement and executive control. Recently, Darla was asked to present her work at a U.S. Congressional and Senate Briefings in Washington, DC as a means of supporting the Fit Kids Act. For her role in this research, Darla was named a 2006 Young Scholar by the International Association of Physical Education in Higher Education (AIESEP), 2007 Illinois Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (IAHPERD) Past-President's Scholar and a Fellow in the AAHPERD Research Consortium. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Education. She has published in the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, and Developmental Psychology.