Mark Urtel, Ed.D., is the chair and an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology. He is a youth sport, fitness, and physical activity specialist whose work in expanding impactful opportunities for comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAP) has led to a recasting of the role of a P–12 physical educator to include all-inclusive opportunities for school-aged youth to become more physically active.
He is part of the first cohort of physical activity leaders as selected by SHAPE America and presents trainings locally and nationally. Urtel has been named as a Boyer Scholar (2008), was inducted into the IU FACET (2009), is a four-time recipient of the IU trustees’ teaching award, and earned the IU Indianapolis advocate for equity in accessibility award (2017). He graduated with an undergraduate degree from Canisius College in 1990, master’s degree from Ball State in 1992, and earned his doctorate from Indiana University in 2003.
Urtel focuses on building and sustaining campus-community partnerships that engage students in service-learning and other high-impact practices. Most of these collaborations are P–12-based using the CSPAP model. Secondarily, he has partnered with the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) of Indiana and developed a discovering kinesiology camp to introduce the discipline of kinesiology to college-ready Indiana high school students.
List of selected presentations:
2018
Presenter, Leveraging community partnerships to foster CSPAP and PAL implementation, presented at the PETE & HETE Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Presenter, Implementing a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program, sole presenter of a one-day workshop as sponsored by the Batesville Community School Corporation and the Indiana Department of Health, Batesville, Indiana.
Presenter, Implementing a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program, sole presenter of a one-day workshop as sponsored by the Community Schools of Frankfort and the Indiana Department of Health, Frankfort, Indiana.
Presenter, Implementing a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program, sole presenter of a one-day workshop as sponsored by the South Bend School Corporation and the Indiana Department of Health, South Bend, Indiana.
2016
Presenter, Implementing a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program, co-presented a 2-day professional development workshop for over 100 K-12 school personnel of West Virginia centered on the national PAL training as sponsored by SHAPE America. The event was hosted by the WV Department of Education in Beckley, West Virginia.
2014
Presenter, Implementing a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program, co-presented over a 2-day professional development for the nearly 200 Health, Wellness, and Physical Education Teachers of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools (17th largest district in the country), Charlotte, North Carolina.
