John Dobson

Dr. John Dobson was raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he became an avid competitive swimmer. Swimming helped him earn admission to Gettysburg College, where he competed on the varsity team. Upon graduation, his highest aspiration was to become an elite swim coach, which motivated him to pursue a master's degree in exercise science while working with the varsity swim team at Auburn University as a graduate assistant. His experience at Auburn exceeded his wildest expectations as the team won national championships in two of the three years he was involved with the program. However, it was during this transformative period that he discovered his passion for teaching and decided to pursue a doctorate in exercise physiology. Since completing his doctoral studies, he had the privilege of serving on the faculty at three distinguished institutions: the University of Florida, College of Charleston, and Georgia Southern University. While each position provided fantastic experiences—including the opportunity to serve as department chair at Georgia Southern for five years—he is extremely pleased to have joined the faculty in SHAHS last year.

Education

Ph.D. in Human Exercise Science, Exercise Physiology Concentration, Auburn University
M.Ed. in Exercise Science, Exercise Physiology Concentration, Auburn University
B.A. in Education, Exercise Science, Gettysburg College

Specialization in Teaching

Dr. Dobson is a major proponent of a set of learning strategies that were developed by cognitive scientists and are frequently called Desirable Difficulties. The two examples that have been the focus of more than a dozen of his own research studies and that he uses extensively in his courses are retrieval-based learning and distributed practice.

Research Interests

Dr. Dobson's research interests include cardiovascular responses to exercise, autonomic control of cardiovascular function and factors that affect this relationship, and lactate metabolism.

Professional Service

• Co-Chair, Symposium at the 2021 Experimental Biology Meeting, virtual. The title of the session was Retrieval, Reflection and Integration: Three Keys to Enhancing the Recall and Transfer of Anatomy and Physiology Information.
• Co-Chair, American College of Sports Medicine Exercise Science Education Interest Group, 2017-2020.
• Member, American Physiological Society Science Policy Committee, 2017-2020.
• Chair, Symposium at the 2018 American College of Sports Medicine meeting in Minneapolis. The title of the session was Enhancing Higher-Order Thinking in Health and Exercise Science Students.
• Chair (2017) and Member (2016, 2018), American Physiological Society’s Guyton Award Committee, 2016-2018.
• Chair, Symposium at the 2016 American College of Sports Medicine meeting in Boston, MA. The title of the session was Applying Cognitive Science to Enhance Learning in Exercise Science.
• Chair, Featured Topic session at the 2014 Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego, CA. The title of
the session was Using Retrieval Practice and Other Advances From Cognitive Science to Enhance Student Learning.

Honors & Awards

Georgia Southern University Excellence in Instruction Award, 2018.
Georgia Southern University SoTL Award, 2016.
Award for Teaching in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia Southern University, 2015
Georgia Southern University SoTL Fellowship Award, 2014.
Teacher of the Year at the University of Florida, 2011.
American Physiological Society’s Teaching of Physiology Research Recognition Award, 2011.
Teacher of the Year in the College of Health and Human Performance, 2011.
American Physiological Society’s Teaching of Physiology New Investigator Award, 2010.
Teacher of the Year in the College of Health and Human Performance, 2008.