The Dean of the College of Health and Sciences Gary Liguori was appointed as the editor in chief of “Exercise, Sports and Movement.” PHOTO CREDIT: uri.edu
Gary Liguori, dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Rhode Island, is moving onto another opportunity, as he was announced as the editor in chief of the new academic journal “Exercise, Sports and Movement.”
Liguori has been the dean of the College of Health Sciences since 2016. Prior to that, he had stints at the University of Tennessee as the head of the department of health and human performance and North Dakota State University as a professor and graduate coordinator.
The journal is run by the American College of Sports Medicine, an organization based out of Indiana that Liguori has written for in the past and has previously been a member of the editorial board.
“They had an open application period where anyone could apply and I applied and was ultimately chosen to be the inaugural editor in chief,” Liguori said.
As the editor in chief, Liguori will work with a review team that will determine if articles submitted from scientists around the world are right to publish in this publication.
Liguori said he had interest in being an editor in chief for some time and had worked in a supporting role on another journal run by their organization.
“This journal came along and what really excited me was that it is brand new,” Liguori said. “I get to actually start a new journal with the hopes that someday someone else will take it to great heights.”
He says that his work at URI should benefit his work at the journal. While he does not teach classes as the dean of the school, Liguori has done a lot of research on kinesiology on campus. In addition, through his work publishing in previous journals, he believes that he is prepared for the role.
Liguori is also currently writing a book with the organization about exercise, which he says is part of one of the most used book series around the world in the field of kinesiology.
Jessica Conrardy, executive assistant to the dean’s office, believes that this step for Liguori will help the kinesiology department.
“The journal that he’s running, a lot of the faculty members within kinesiology are also part of it, so it can do nothing but help promote it,” Conrardy said.
Conrardy said that Liguori is very student-focused and very friendly with faculty, both things that will help in another position of authority.
Liguori said that the journal will be an open-access journal with a broad range of topics that will be free to access. This will be due to the fact that the government is funding the research and they believe that the research Liguori is conducting should be easy to access to the public. Liguori said that this is the first major journal in the country that will be open-access.
Liguori said that his work at the school will help him in this new position as well.
“Probably more relevant is the connections I have made over the years,” he said. “Certainly my work at URI has helped expand that and my growth in the exercise sports movement.”
Liguori mentioned that he thinks the journal will help recruit faculty, as so many of the members of the field will be participating in the journal.
Conrardy also thinks that his work as a dean will benefit the newspaper.
“I think attention to detail is a big thing,” Conrardy said. “Being dean of a large college, you have to know what is going on and it will definitely help with his editing.”