American College of Sports Medicine to present its highest awards to Bo Fernhall and Charlotte “Toby” Tate

The American College of Sports Medicine will present its highest awards to AHS dean Bo Fernhall and dean emerita Charlotte “Toby” Tate at the organization’s 2022 annual meeting.

This will be the first time two leaders from the same college and university have received top honors at an ACSM meeting.

Tate, dean from 1999 to 2011, will receive the 2020 Honors Award, the organization’s highest honor. The award recognizes her long career of outstanding scientific and scholarly contributions to sports medicine and the exercise sciences.

Fernhall will receive the 2021 Citation Award, the organization’s next-highest honor, for his significant contributions to the field. AHS dean since 2011, he will step down as dean later this year.

The ACSM 2022 Annual Meeting and World Congresses will be held May 31-June 4 in San Diego.

Tate also served as interim provost and vice chancellor for student affairs at UIC, as well as professor of disability and human development and kinesiology and nutrition.

Her research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association, focused on muscle function during exercise. She was ACSM president in 1997-98.

Under Fernhall’s leadership, the college added two new undergraduate and two PhD programs, as well as faculty practice clinics and the AHS Office of Research. AHS student enrollment has increased 50% and the college has one of UIC’s highest six-year graduation rates for undergrads.

Fernhall’s research on exercise physiology, cardiovascular function and lifetime health focuses on people with disabilities and ethnic and racial disparities. He is a faculty member of the AHS Integrative Physiology Laboratory and president of the National Academy of Kinesiology for 2022-23.