Catherine Sanderson - Catherine A. Sanderson is the Poler Family Professor and Chair of Psychology at Amherst College. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a specialization in Health and Development, from Stanford University, and received both master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Princeton University. Professor Sanderson’s research examines how personality and social variables influence health-related behaviors. Her research also examines the development of persuasive messages and interventions to prevent unhealthy behavior and predictors of relationship satisfaction. This research has received grant funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Professor Sanderson has published more than 25 journal articles and book chapters; four college textbooks; high school and middle school health textbooks; and a trade book, The Positive Shift, which examines how mind-set influences happiness, health, and even how long people live. Her latest book, Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into Moral Rebels, examines why good people often stay silent or do nothing in the face of wrongdoing. In 2012, she was named one of the country’s top 300 professors by the Princeton Review.
Mark Zelman - Mark Zelman is a Professor of Biology at Aurora University, Aurora, Illinois. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology at Rockford College, with minors in chemistry and psychology. He received a PhD in microbiology and immunology at Loyola University of Chicago, where he studied the molecular and cellular mechanisms of autoimmune disease. During his postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago, he studied aspects of cell physiology pertaining to cell growth and cancer. Dr. Zelman supervises undergraduate research on streptococcal and staphylococcal infections, and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. He teaches science education courses for high school teachers. He has published articles on microbiology, infectious disease, autoimmune disease, and biotechnology, and he has written two college texts on human diseases and infection control. Dr. Zelman works with the West Africa AIDS Foundation in Ghana and other public health projects in the US and abroad. He is an officer of the Illinois State Academy of Sciences and Editor-in-Chief of the Academy’s scientific journal, Transactions.
Diane Farthing - Diane Farthing received her bachelor’s degree and teaching credentials from Kent State University in Ohio and has been teaching health education for 38 years. In 2010, she became a National Board Certified Teacher. Diane’s teaching career includes 16 years at a continuation high school and five years at the middle school level. Since 2004, she has been teaching health education and anatomy and physiology at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California. She spent seven years as part of the Bay Area Physical Education-Health Subject Matter Project leadership team designing and delivering professional development institutes. In 2014, she took on the role of Health Program Director for the Health and Physical Education Collaborative (H-PEC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping teachers develop physical and health literacy in their students. Diane was a member of the CDE’s Framework and Evaluation Criteria Committee and helped write the Health Education Curriculum Framework for California Public Schools. She is the 2019 California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (CAHPERD) Health Teacher of the Year and the 2020 Western District Teacher of the Year.
Melanie Lynch - Melanie Lynch is an experienced teacher with more than 25 years in the classroom. She spent the first 21 years of her career specializing in teaching only health education. She now teaches health and physical education in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at North Allegheny Intermediate High School. She has served as Vice President of Health Education for SHAPE Pennsylvania for five years and served as their President in 2016. Also in 2016, SHAPE America named Melanie the National Health Education Teacher of the Year. Melanie’s love of working with students and her creative, skills-based lesson ideas have taken her all over the country, where she has spoken to thousands of teachers. Melanie is grateful to work, learn, and grow with so many amazing teachers.
Melissa Munsell - Melissa Munsell has worked as an instructional specialist in the Physical Education and Health Department at North East Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, and served as the K–12 Health Education Lead for the district. Melissa received a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from The University of Texas at Austin and is certified to teach Physical Education K–12 and Health Education 6–12, among other endorsements, in the state of Texas. She has 28 years of teaching and administrative experience, including six years teaching health education at the high school level. She has also served as vice president of the Health Division and General Division of the Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (TAHPERD) and presents workshops and lectures on various health topics locally and statewide.
Health I (PDF, 463.64 KB)