TLU Professor Bill Squires Receives the 2013 Texas Health Champion Award
Seguin, Texas (PRWEB) August 07, 2013 -- TLU Professor of Biology and Kinesiology William G. “Bill” Squires, Jr. is the 2013 Texas Health Champion Award winner. This distinguished achievement is awarded annually to an individual or organization who has mobilized community efforts to prevent and reduce obesity and promote physical activity and nutritional health through research, innovative partnerships, practice, policy development, social marketing or behavioral interventions. His extensive efforts are a model for health awareness and education for communities around Texas and the nation.
Presented by the Michael and Susan Dell Center For Healthy Living, The UT School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus and Live Smart Texas as part of the 6th Annual Texas Obesity Awareness Week, Squires will officially receive the honor Thursday, Sept. 12, at the University of Texas at Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art.
“This is a shared community award between TLU, Seguin ISD, Guadalupe Regional Medical Center and the Seguin District and County Attorney’s offices,” Squires said. “TLU’s longstanding partnership with these organizations, the work of SISD’s Coordinator of Elementary School Physical Education Pete Silvius, and our new partnership with the San Antonio Food Bank are helping to make healthy activities and nutritious food more accessible to local kids. Our research has shown that students who are healthier and well nourished do better in school. We will continue working together for the children of Seguin.”
Squires has taught at TLU for more than 30 years and serves as co-chair of Seguin Independent School District’s Student Health Advisory Council with Assistant Superintendent Dot Whitman where their involvement played a significant role in the development of nine elementary school walking trails. This role, and Squires’ cooperative agreements with the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center, The Seguin Outdoor Learning Center, the H-E-B Foundation Frio River Camp as well as several other local nonprofits, earned him the top spot for 2013.
William G. "Bill" Squires, Jr. is the Dr. Frederick C. Elliot Chair in Health, Fitness and Nutrition at TLU and has received funding from NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and many other private foundations. Squires has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Texas A&M University College Station is an expert in the physiology of humans in space. He previously worked for NASA at Johnson Space Center in Houston performing pre-flight testing in their cardiopulmonary lab and later in their biomechanics lab. His current research focuses on public health issues related to lack of exercise and childhood obesity. Squires is co-author of the textbook “Exercise Physiology.”
About TLU
Founded in 1891, Texas Lutheran University is an undergraduate university of the liberal arts, sciences and professional studies located in Seguin. For more information, visit the university’s website at http://www.tlu.edu.
Ashlie McEachern, Texas Lutheran University, +1 (830) 372-8064, [email protected]
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