News Release

MISHAWAKA — Bethel University recently held an open house for the newly expanded and renovated Human Performance Lab, located within Goodman Gymnasium on Bethel’s campus.

This grant-funded space features a large instruction room with taping and treatment tables and equipment for students to practice taping and assessment skills, a television and space to teach functional movement, and a smaller VO2 Max testing lab, where a 12-lead electrocardiogram and treadmill show students firsthand how the body responds to exercise.

“Bethel University is grateful for the support of the Judd Leighton Foundation to push forward the capacity of our kinesiology program. This renovation increases the technology and space in which our students learn and practice. This growing program trains students to serve in many essential physical performance and therapy fields,” said Brent LaVigne, vice president for institutional advancement.

Bethel’s kinesiology department houses four majors including exercise science (pre-physical therapy), sport management, sport studies and health/physical education. In the last 12 years, nearly 30% of students graduating from Bethel’s kinesiology program have gone on to earn master’s or doctorate degrees.

“The expansion of the lab and the new equipment will allow our students to have hands-on training to better prepare them for a variety of professions, from coaches to physical educators to any of the therapies,” says Mary Estepp, department chair and assistant professor of kinesiology. “We will now have the ability to allow students to study the maximal oxygen utilization during intense exercise, using top-of-the-line equipment. The new space and equipment will allow students to implement strategies to increase an individual’s fitness and health from the assessments they are performing.”

The lab also features a stained-glass window, designed and built by longtime Bethel professor Larry McClements, who helped build the kinesiology program. In the future, Bethel plans to offer neighborhood nights, open to the community, to teach about health and fitness topics.