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Carol Christensen

Professional, Personal, and Pet Page

College of Applied Sciences and Arts
San Jose State University
San Jose, CA 95192-0049
phone: (408) 924-2900
fax: (408) 924-2901
email: carollc@email.sjsu.edu

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Professional:

I am currently serving as the Associate Dean in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts. My graduate training was in exercise physiology with a focus on women's responses to exercise and training. For two years (1998-2000) I served as chairperson of the Department of Human Performance, San Jose State University (SJSU), San Jose, California. Prior to this I was a full-time faculty member of the Human Performance department. I taught courses in all programs in our department: activity (cross training and weight training), general education (fitness and nutrition), undergraduate major (exercise physiology), and graduate (exercise physiology and issues in human performance). My specific research interests are in sports nutrition and women's responses to exercise and training.

I co-authored (with Janet Weber) a textbook: Fitness Survival Guide:How to stay healthy while getting fit (1996), Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishers (call 1-800-228-0564 to order). It is an extensive collection of safety guidelines for numerous types of aerobic exercise (aerobic dance to vertical climbing), exercising in climatic extremes, and personal protection when exercising. In addition, chapters cover exercise and nutrition, weight control, and motivation techniques. In addition I run several listserves including WISHPERD (a discussion list for persons interested in Women in Sport, Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance).

Links that provide information:

To access a list of exercise physiology and related web sites that I have visited and like Click Here .
To access a list of sites related to women in sport, health, physical education, recreation, and dance Click Here .
Please note that I claim no responsibility for the content or recommendations made by these sites. When I last visited them they appeared to have reliable, accurate information.

Personal:

I reside in San Jose with several pets (see below). My interests are varied and include animal rescue (I work with a local non-profit rescue group - Nike Animal Rescue Foundation), gardening, and reading (mostly science fiction/fantasy and mysteries -- particularly those with cats as characters). In addition I am an avid exerciser who regularly walks/runs, resistance trains, and stretches; and I occasionally attend yoga classes and canoe (I like being on the water, not in it). I would like to be more of a birder and photographer, but I am saving these hobbies for my retirement.

I have taken several 'adventure' trips. One summer (1996) I survived a 73 mile canoe trip (and 6 or so miles of portages) on the Bowron Lakes Circuit in British Columbia. The scenery was wondrous; listening to the osprey and loons made early evenings enchanting, and meeting the physical challenges of the trip were reaffirming. If you would like to know more about guided trips on this circuit write to Dean Hull (a most highly recommended guide) or visit his web site at Bowron Lakes. The following summer (1997) I completed a driving trip of the Dempster Highway (nearly 500 miles of wondrous scenery) and a 225 mile canoe trip on the Big Salmon and Yukon Rivers (Yukon Territory, Canada); this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip with Dean, my favorite canoe guide.

While I love the physical vacations, I spent my 1998 summer vacation camping with a guide and being generally inactive. Inactive because our guide wouldn't let us walk out of camp since elephants, lions, and other large critters were quite dangerous. I was camping in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. It was a wonderful and wondrous trip -- so many animals to see, so many different cultures, and so much history to learn. I highly recommend a visit to this part of the world.

Early in the summer of 1999, I had a motorcycle accident that broke two of my ribs, and a mirror and turn-signal on the cycle. Needless to say, I spent much of the summer in limited activity -- it is amazing how many activities involve the rib cage and thorasic muscles. During the summer of 2000, I choose a safe vacation -- visiting with my parents who are in their 80s. Sounds like a quiet time -- not quite. They live in Northern California on 160 acres of forested land and during the summers visitors get to help them clear brush that might be a potential fire hazard. So most mornings I spent in the woods cutting and chipping brush and branches and working hard to keep up with my parents. Most afternoons I spent reading and generally recovering from the morning 'exercise' -- my academic career doesn't exactly build muscles for summer hard labor.

Pets:

All my pets are rescued animals (that is, they were previously feral and/or abandoned animals). There are four long time residents (living with me for 9 years or more). All the cats are camera shy -- at least when I got out the camera hen went into hiding or tried to lick the lens -- so no great pictures here. You can follow the links for a few photos (unless you have seen enough pets on the web).

And there are the new additions who came to live with us a few years after the first four:

Fun or Furry Web sites that I like are given below.

cat running


created: July 1996
revised: December 2000
Carol L. Christensen, Ph.D.
College of Applied Sciences and Arts
San Jose State University


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email iconcarollc@email.sjsu.edu


The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of Carol Christensen. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by San Jose State University.


Pages at this site checked and corrected by visits to NetMechanic.
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