By Laurel White
In 2022, Luis Columna won a major research award from the National Consortium for Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities.
Columna, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology, was honored by the recognition of his work, but was quick to turn his thoughts to his community. Columna thought the honor could mean a lot to other kinesiology scholars and researchers who come from communities that are underrepresented in the field.
“It feels good to be able to show the students in my lab that they can do this, that they belong here,” Columna says.
Across disciplines, American higher education institutions struggle with hiring and retaining diverse faculty. According to 2022 figures from the U.S. Department of Education, roughly 72% of full-time faculty across the country are white — and kinesiology is no exception. A 2023 analysis published in the journal The Physical Educator argued representation of diverse communities among kinesiology faculty remains “embarrassingly small.”
In response, Columna, who grew up in Puerto Rico, has worked to cultivate a diverse community in his Promotion of Health Equity and Adapted Physical Activity Lab. This fall, lab members will hail from Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and India.
Doctoral student Gayatri Swarup, who is from India, says being part of the diverse community in Columna’s lab has been an opportunity to build important life skills.
“Being surrounded by people from very different parts of the world has been really helpful, especially in terms of being mindful and respectful,” she says. “I think it really opens your eyes.”
Jamie L. Jaime Concepcion, a graduate student form Puerto Rico, says she appreciates working in an academic community where she can talk about complex research concepts in her first language.
“I think it’s easier to communicate and for me to express my ideas in that environment,” she says.
Graduate student Nicole Marie Montañez Alicea, who is also from Puerto Rico, says Columna’s connection to the Latino community in Madison has allowed her to successfully pursue her passion for research and innovation that aims to benefit that community.
“We are learning and studying to develop research skills, but my aim is to give something to the community,” she says. “And most of the time we learn more from the members of the community than they learn from us.”
Swarup, Jaime Concepcion, and Montañez Alicea all hope to center their doctoral studies around building health interventions inspired by a fusion of their own backgrounds and interests and Columna’s Fit Families program. Fit Families provides guided health and fitness activities for parents and their children with developmental disabilities. Swarup is working on a yoga program for mothers of children with developmental disabilities. Jaime Concepcion and Montañez Alicea hope to build exercise programs for Latino parents of children with developmental disabilities.