Deborah J. Rhea: a professor on the move

Fort Worth, TX

12/1/2009

By: Stephanie M. Scott, Schieffer School of Journalism

With two offices and many roles, it would not be a stretch to assume that Deborah J. Rhea was a hard woman to pin down. However, Dr. Rhea is available everyday of the week in one of her two offices to meet with undergraduate and graduate students along with faculty and staff.

Dr. Rhea is not only an associate professor in TCU’s kinesiology department in her 11th year teaching who found a home in her office in the Rickel building, but she is also the associate dean of health sciences and research for Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences where she set up another office in the Bass building.

Dr. Rhea does not just teach, head and give support for all research endeavors in the college. She is also deeply involved in her own research about eating disorders in kindergarten through 12th grade settings focusing on ethnic differences and effective teaching strategies in urban and large group physical education settings.

She also sets time aside to publish chapters in books, develop curriculum and work as a motivational speaker. In The Hidden Faces of Eating Disorders and Body Image, Dr. Rhea wrote Chapter 7 titled, “Look past the color of my skin and how much money I make: Look at ME.” Through her teaching, research, curriculum development and her motivational speaking Dr. Rhea fulfilled all of these roles from the comfort of her two offices located completely across campus from one another.

Dr. Rhea started out as a teacher and coach for her first 13 years in the physical education setting. It was through her coaching experience that she became interested in eating disorders in kindergarten through 12th grade children focusing on ethnic differences. Dr. Rhea’s own research delves into body image issues related to gender and ethnic differences.

She not only researches popular female eating disorders, but also coined the term for male’s most common body image issue: “muscle dismorphia.” Dr. Rhea and her colleague, Chris Lantz of Truman State University in Kursville, Miss., developed the framework for muscle dismorphia including the scale and discretionary information on who this issue effects.

“It is important to motivate kids from the time they are young and continuing through high school and that physical activity is the only way to live our life gracefully,” she said.

Dr. Rhea developed curriculum for physical education and also frequently spoke at in-service trainings for teachers. She worked to teach these teachers how to approach physical activity in a motivational way for kids. Dr. Rhea worked with 17 different school districts and spoke at in-service speaking engagements and conferences.

In addition to speaking engagements, Dr. Rhea wrote the curriculum for kindergarten through 12th grade students in Fort Worth Independent School District. Dr. Rhea said “activity is the only way to live out life gracefully” and her curriculum mirrors this philosophy. The district will test her curriculum in select Fort Worth schools and Trinity Valley School classrooms in Fort Worth, Texas.

Dr. Rhea developed the curriculum framework as developmentally appropriate according to each grade level. She included a cognitive part daily. This includes, for example, teaching about bones and muscles groups to the younger ages. She also wanted to make sure that her curriculum was “highly focused on how to motivate kids and motivate kids for a lifetime.”

In her current positions, Dr. Rhea heads all research endeavors for Harris College. In her first two years as associate dean, she instituted new programs and helped individuals work on grants in terms of applying and providing research to help with the process.

Dr. Rhea developed three different research symposiums to highlight faculty and aid in collaboration. Dr. Rhea said that she wants everyone to “be proud of what is in our college.”

In addition to symposiums, Dr. Rhea organizes monthly brown bag lunches where faculty discuss the grant writing process, highlighting important individuals in the college and undergraduate and graduate student collaboration in research.

If any one individual needs two offices, it would be Deborah J. Rhea of TCU. The two offices helped her transition day to day in her roles within the TCU academic community. Need to pin down this busy woman? Do not forget to check which office she’s in today.