University Times

Pitt’s Bradford campus has received a $15,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to create a sport and exercise science lab that will give students hands-on technological experience.
The Verizon Sport and Exercise Science Lab will be located in the Pitt-Bradford Sport and Fitness Center.

Verizon’s funding will be matched by the Zippo/Case Technology Challenge, which was created last year by a $1 million gift from Zippo Manufacturing Co., W.R. Case and Sons Cutlery Co. and the Philo and Sarah Blaisdell Foundation, thus making the total amount of the gift $30,000.

“The fields of athletic training, sports medicine and sport and recreational management are becoming more and more dependent on technology,” said Jason Honeck, visiting instructor and program director of athletic training. “This new lab will allow our students to integrate more technology into the curriculum through various course assignments and projects.”

The lab will enable athletic training and sports medicine students to perform virtual dissections and provide them with immediate access to injury and rehabilitation techniques during clinical assessments. Sport and recreational management majors will learn to prepare documents, marketing materials and professional presentations.

With the new lab, faculty members will offer a sport and exercise science camp for area high school students.

“By integrating technology into the sport and exercise science curriculum and by introducing technology to area high school students, the Verizon Sport and Exercise Lab will not only aid in workforce development, it will provide opportunities that are currently unavailable in our region,” Honeck added.