Donna S. Phillips Scholarship

Dr. Donna Phillips was a former chair of the Department of Physical Education at WIU. She came to Western Illinois in Fall 1967 as an instructor in physical education. Throughout her career, she taught activity, theory and jazz dance courses. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1973, associate professor in 1979 and professor in 1987. In 1985, when the men’s and women’s physical education departments combined into one department, Phillips became the undergraduate program coordinator. She served as department chair from July 1, 1993 until her retirement March 31, 2004, following 37 years of service. She has been credited with starting Western’s fitness education program (now called exercise science program), which was featured in the October 1988 edition of the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (JOPERD). Also during her tenure, the athletic training education program received a letter of initial accreditation from the Commission of Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (1999). There were less than 100 accredited programs in the U.S. at that time. This account was established to honor Dr. Phillips upon her retirement from WIU.

CRITERIA:
Sophomore, Junior or Senior undergraduate student with a major in the Department of Kinesiology. Minimum GPA of 2.75
Student must be engaged in professional organizations or activities within their chosen field
(SHAPE, IAHPERD, NATA, NSCA, ACSM, etc.) and/or professional student associations at WIU (A TSA, DES, APEK, ESSA, etc.).