This issue of Performance in Motion will mark the beginning of the third year of publication of this newsletter for our Mentor Society members. There has been a steady growth in the membership of the Mentor Society over these two short years. Your generous contributions to the Mentor Society have helped us in purchasing state-of-the-art technology for our biomechanics and exercise physiology research, in upgrading our computers, in providing an endowed graduate fellowship award, and in publishing this newsletter. A new use of Mentor Society funds that the PEES faculty recently approved is for graduate student travel to professional conferences to present papers. Our graduate students, masters and doctoral, are finding that they need to have a strong vita that includes professional presentations at conferences in order to be competitive in the job market. They know that they have to do their part in getting their papers accepted, but once accepted, many students find it difficult to finance the travel and lodging. This travel fund will help defray their costs.

In my column last fall, I indicated that we were near the end of our search for a new Director of the Youth Sports Institute. I am pleased to announce that Dr. Robert Malina has accepted the position beginning August 16, 1995. Dr. Malina brings to the position extensive research experience in the physical growth and maturation of children and youth, having published more than 300 articles, book chapters, and edited books on this topic. Dr. Malina is currently a professor at the University of Texas where he holds appointments in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education and in the Department of Anthropology. He has also been a visiting scholar at Catholic University (Belgium), Guelph University (Ontario), and Laval University (Quebec).

Dr. Malina received his first Ph.D. in physical education in 1963 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his second Ph.D. in anthropology in 1968 from the University of Pennsylvania. He also received an honorary doctoral degree from Catholic University in Belgium in 1989. He has received numerous honors, including the Alliance Scholar Award from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. He has also served on several editorial boards of journals including Annals of Human Biology, Child Development, Human Biology, Pediatric Exercise Science, and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and is Editor-in-Chief for American Journal of Human Biology. Dr. Malina will replace Dr. Vern Seefeldt who has been Director of the Youth Sports Institute since 1978. Vern will retire in December of this year.

As Robert (Bob) Malina is joining the Department, Philip (Sam) Reuschlein is retiring. Our Department hosted a well-attended retirement party for Sam on April 21, 1995 at the Michigan Athletic Club. It was a nice time to reminisce as faculty and a former student (Dr. Paul Vogel) spoke about Sam's contributions to the department and careers of students. We presented Sam with a notebook of letters and comments from people whose lives he touched at MSU and with a MSU captain's chair. We all wish Sam and his wife Pat a happy and active retirement.

Our Department has begun a number of new initiatives this year to enhance our recruitment and retention efforts of minority students. First, last fall we initiated discussions with the Physical Education program at Howard University (an historically Black university) for a student exchange project where a few of our students could attend a semester at Howard and a few of Howard's students could attend MSU. We spent the entire fall semester working on the "Institutional Agreement" that would allow the exchange students to pay their tuition and receive grade and credit at their "home" institution. We now have this agreement in place and hope to start exchanges in the 1995-96 academic year.

This spring semester, we initiated a Minority Scholar Lecture Series through a grant for minority graduate student mentoring from the Urban Affairs Program on campus. This lecture series involves bringing to campus six minority scholars, four of whom are our graduate alumni and two from nearby universities. The scholars give a formal presentation to our faculty and graduate students and an informal presentation on mentoring issues to our graduate students of color. The scholars are also matched up with a graduate student to house in their homes to help the student make a more personal connection with the scholar. So far, we have hosted Dr. Clersida Garcia (Ph.D. '92) from Northern Illinois University, Dr. Luis Garcia (M.A. '86; Ph.D. from Educational Administration) from Northern Illinois University, Dr. Othello Harris, from Miami University (Ohio), and Dr. Pamela Rowsey, from the University of Michigan. In the fall, we will host Ms. Christine Hester (M.A. '90), Minneapolis and Dr. Clifford Larkins (Ph.D. '87), State University of New York College at Brockport. The lectures thus far have been very stimulating, and our students have had productive conversations with the scholars.

Our third initiative will take place this summer when we host our first visiting minority professor, Dr. Julio Morales. The visiting minority faculty program is a MSU funded project from the Provost's office with matching funds from the host department to increase the presence of minority faculty on campus. Dr. Morales is an assistant professor of physical education at the University of Puerto Rico. He received his Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of Maryland, specializing in the area of motor learning, biomechanics, and tests and measurements. He will spend 7 weeks at MSU, starting May 15th. While he is here, he will teach our undergraduate tests and measurements course and work with the Youth Sports Institute.