Norman James was the first former student member of the SWACSM to be elected to a SWACSM office, serving as Member At Large for three years in the late 1980’s. Norman never missed a SWACSM annual meeting and was very active as a Council Member, a research presenter and a session chairperson. He died of cancer at a very young age and left part of his estate to SWACSM to be used as a student research award. The Norman James Student Research Award honors his humble, gracious and academic commitment to the field of Exercise Science.
Gail Butterfield was elected to the SWACSM Administrative Council as Member-at-Large in 1986 and served three years in that capacity. In 1989 she was elected President Elect and subsequently served as President in 1990-1991 and Past President in 1991-1992. As Past President she also assumed the duties of Chapter Executive Director and served for three years in that capacity. After serving so faithfully in Chapter leadership positions, she was elected to the national ACSM Board of Trustees and eventually elected to the office of ACSM Vice-President. The Gail Butterfield Student research Award was established in honor of Gail who died of a brain tumor in December, 1999. She was also the recipient of the 2000 SWACSM Recognition Award, which was posthumously awarded at the Annual Meeting of the SWACSM in November, 2000.
SWACSM has received a grant to support innovative activities in accordance with ACSM’s strategic priorities. The grant supports the faculty by either:
1) Providing $1000 to present at the 2025 SWACSM Regional Meeting; or
2) Providing $1000 in resarch funds with the commitment to attend the 2026 SWACSM Regional Meeting
Elligible faculty include those who received their terminal degree within the last 5 years; postdoctoral scholars are eligible. For more information, please contact James Navalta (james.navalta@unlv.edu) with any questions.
Applications are due Friday, September 5th at 6:00pm PDT. Click here to apply.
The Chapter is looking forward to presenting these awards in annual recognition of the completion and dissemination of research performed by the top student investigators in the Southwest Regional Chapter. See application deadlines under Meeting-Abstracts.
Donations to the award funds are vested in an endowment to honor student research. Tax-deductible contributions may be made by writing a check to SWACSM and indicating that it is for either the Norman James or Gail Butterfield funds.
Please direct all donation inquires to the SWACSM Executive Director, Ben Yaspelkis ben.yaspelkis@csun.edu
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