Margaret JoAnne Safrit
BornJune 16, 1935
Salisbury, North Carolina
DiedJanuary 17, 2023
Greensboro, North Carolina
Occupation(s)College professor, kinesiologist

Margaret JoAnne Safrit (June 16, 1935 – January 17, 2023), also known as Jo Safrit, was an American kinesiologist and college professor. She gave over a million dollars to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, her alma mater, to support women's sports and the kinesiology program.

Early life and education

Safrit was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, the daughter of Ernest Crawford Safrit Sr. and Margaret Cannon Cline Safrit. Her mother was a teacher.[1] She graduated Boyden High School in 1953, and earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from the North Carolina State Women's College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, or UNCG) in 1957. She earned her master's degree in 1962, and a Ph.D. in 1967, both in kinesiology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her doctoral advisor was Marie R. Liba.[2]

Career

Safrit taught fencing at the University of Texas at Austin after college. She taught at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and was a Henry Bascom Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. At Madison she was director of the Physical Education Measurement and Evaluation Laboratory on campus.[3] She also taught at American University, where she was chair of the Department of Health and Fitness.[4] She was an invited lecturer at Shanghai University of Sport in 1985. She later received an honorary doctorate from Shanghai University. She received a national award from SHAPE America and was a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology.[5]

Publications

Safrit's research involved quantitative studies of exercise and fitness, and devising standards for evaluating fitness. Her work appeared in academic journals including American Journal of Occupational Therapy,[6][7] Quest[8][9] Journal of Motor Behavior,[10] Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance,[11] and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.[12][13] She also published four books on fitness evaluation, measurement, and testing.[14][15][16]

  • "Measurement in occupational therapy" (1976, with B. R. Hasselkus)[6]
  • "Effect of Guided Practice on Overhand-Throw Ball Velocities of Kindergarten Children" (1977, with Lolas E. Halverson, Mary Anne Robertson, and Thomas W. Roberts)[17]
  • "Issues in Setting Motor Performance Standards" (1980, with Ted A. Baumgartner, Andrew S. Jackson, and Carol L. Stamm)[8]
  • "Methodological Issues in Short-Term Motor Memory Research" (1980, with Judith A. Spray and Gordon L. Diewert)[10]
  • Evaluation in Physical Education (1981)[14]
  • "Handedness and Hand Joint Changes in Rheumatoid Arthritis" (1981, with Bettye R. Hasselkus and K. K. Kshepakaran)[7]
  • "Women in Research in Physical Education: A 1984 Update" (1984)[9]
  • "The Test Battery Reliability of the Health-Related Physical Fitness Test" (1987, with Terry M. Wood)[12]
  • Measurement Concepts in Physical Education and Exercise Science (1989, edited with Terry M. Wood)[16]
  • "Item Response Theory and the Measurement of Motor Behavior" (1989, with Allan S. Cohen and M. Glaucia Costa)
  • Introduction to measurement in physical education and exercise science (1990)
  • "The Validity and Reliability of Fitness Tests for Children: A Review" (1990)[18]
  • "Measurement and Evaluation Curricula in Professional Physical Education Programs—Current Trends" (1990)[11]
  • "The Difficulty of Sit-Ups Tests: An Empirical Investigation" (1992, with Weimo Zhu, M. Glaucia Costa, and Liru Zhang)[13]
  • Complete Guide to Youth Fitness Testing (1994)[15]
  • "A Genealogy of Measurement Specialists in Physical Education and Exercise Science" (2003, with Ted A. Baumgartner)[19]

Personal life and donations to UNCG

Safrit and fellow kinesiology professor Catherine Dunnington Ennis were longtime partners.[20] After Ennis died in 2017,[21] Safrit donated $1 million to create the Safrit-Ennis Distinguished Professorship in Kinesiology at UNCG,[22] and the Safrit-Ennis Women's Basketball Athletic Scholarship to support UNCG's women's basketball program. "Basketball is a game changer for women as well as men, and it changed my life", she said in 2018.[23] She also created the Mildred Curlee Cooper Scholarship for Women's Basketball (named for her high school coach), the Safrit Measurement in Research Fund, and the Catherine D. Ennis Undergraduate Kinesiology Scholarship. She also made significant donations the Weatherspoon Art Museum on campus, where an exhibition space is named the Jo Safrit & Cathy Ennis Gallery.[24] Safrit died in 2023, at the age of 87, in Greensboro, North Carolina.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Cline, Margaret". Memories of Mont Amoena. 2017-09-10. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  2. ↑ "Margaret Safrit Obituary". Salisbury Post, via Legacy.com. 2023. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  3. ↑ "Safrit to give Lawther lecture on Wednesday". News and Record. 1981-12-06. p. 98. Retrieved 2023-12-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Clerk, Frances (2019-02-03). "Dr. Joanne Safrit (PhD '67) - Lifetime Legacy Award". School of Health and Human Sciences. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  5. 1 2 "In Memoriam: Margaret JoAnne Safrit, 1935-2023". Women In Academia Report. 2023-02-17. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  6. 1 2 Hasselkus, B. R.; Safrit, M. J. (1976-08-01). "Measurement in occupational therapy". The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 30 (7): 429–436. ISSN 1943-7676. PMID 941963.
  7. 1 2 Hasselkus, Betty Risteen; Kshepakaran, K. K.; Safrit, Margaret J. (1981-11-01). "Handedness and Hand Joint Changes in Rheumatoid Arthritis". The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 35 (11): 705–710. doi:10.5014/ajot.35.11.705. ISSN 0272-9490. PMID 7325192.
  8. 1 2 Safrit, Margaret J.; Baumgartner, Ted A.; Jackson, Andrew S.; Stamm, Carol L. (July 1980). "Issues in Setting Motor Performance Standards". Quest. 32 (2): 152–162. doi:10.1080/00336297.1980.10483707. ISSN 0033-6297.
  9. 1 2 Safrit, Margaret J. (July 1984). "Women in Research in Physical Education: A 1984 Update". Quest. 36 (2): 103–114. doi:10.1080/00336297.1984.10483805. ISSN 0033-6297.
  10. 1 2 Safrit, Margaret J.; Spray, Judith A.; Diewert, Gordon L. (March 1980). "Methodological Issues in Short-Term Motor Memory Research". Journal of Motor Behavior. 12 (1): 13–28. doi:10.1080/00222895.1980.10735201. ISSN 0022-2895. PMID 15215064.
  11. 1 2 Safrit, Margaret J. (March 1990). "Measurement and Evaluation Curricula in Professional Physical Education Programs—Current Trends". Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. 61 (3): 39–41. doi:10.1080/07303084.1990.10606471. ISSN 0730-3084.
  12. 1 2 Safrit, Margaret J.; Wood, Terry M. (June 1987). "The Test Battery Reliability of the Health-Related Physical Fitness Test". Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 58 (2): 160–167. doi:10.1080/02701367.1987.10605439. ISSN 0270-1367.
  13. 1 2 Safrit, Margaret J.; Zhu, Weimo; Costa, M. Glaucia; Zhang, Liru (September 1992). "The Difficulty of Sit-Ups Tests: An Empirical Investigation". Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 63 (3): 277–283. doi:10.1080/02701367.1992.10608743. ISSN 0270-1367. PMID 1513958.
  14. 1 2 Safrit, Margaret J. (1981). Evaluation in Physical Education. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-292250-0.
  15. 1 2 Safrit, Margaret J. (1995). Complete guide to youth fitness testing. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics. ISBN 978-0-87322-757-5.
  16. 1 2 Wood, Terry M. (1989). Safrit, Margaret J. (ed.). Measurement concepts in physical education and exercise science. Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics Books. ISBN 978-0-87322-223-5.
  17. ↑ Halverson, Lolas E.; Roberton, Mary Ann; Safrit, M. Joanne; Roberts, Thomas W. (May 1977). "Effect of Guided Practice on Overhand-Throw Ball Velocities of Kindergarten Children". Research Quarterly. American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. 48 (2): 311–318. doi:10.1080/10671315.1977.10615427. ISSN 1067-1315. PMID 267971.
  18. ↑ Safrit, Margaret J. (1990-02-01). "The Validity and Reliability of Fitness Tests for Children: A Review". Pediatric Exercise Science. 2 (1): 9–28. doi:10.1123/pes.2.1.9. ISSN 0899-8493.
  19. ↑ Baumgartner, Ted A.; Safrit, M. Jo (June 2003). "A Genealogy of Measurement Specialists in Physical Education and Exercise Science". Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science. 7 (2): 121–127. doi:10.1207/S15327841MPEE0702_5. ISSN 1091-367X. S2CID 144183587.
  20. ↑ "Catherine Dunning Ennis (death notice)". Richmond Times-Dispatch. 2017-04-12. pp. B4. Retrieved 2023-12-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Catherine D. Ennis Undergraduate Kinesiology Scholarship". UNC Greensboro Scholarships. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  22. ↑ Newsom, John (2017-11-14). "UNCG graduate donates $1 million for professorship". News and Record. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-12-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Jo Safrit Makes Historic Gift to UNCG Women's Basketball Locker Room Renovation". UNC Greensboro. 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  24. ↑ "Weatherspoon to open art exhibition space, add programs". News and Record. 2018-08-29. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-12-10 – via Newspapers.com.
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