New PhD Student Introductions: Round 2

Welcome to all our new PhD students!  Round 1 and Round 2 of the incoming PhD student introductions are up, so let's get to know them!

George Beckham

I am native to Clayton, California.  I got my Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  While there, I worked as a personal trainer for a few years, and had the opportunity to work as a student strength and conditioning coach with a number of different varsity teams.  My interest in sports performance and sport science grew the more time I spent working with teams.  I came to Johnson City in 2010 to get my master's degree in Exercise and Sport Science, after learning about the eminence and uniqueness of the program.  I realized during my master's that research and teaching drives me more than strength and conditioning, so I stayed to get my PhD in hopes of ultimately finding a faculty position in a University back in California.

Ben Gleason MSEd, ACSM-HFS, CSCS, RSCC, USAW-SPC

I grew up mostly in Santa Rosa, California. I graduated from Santa Rosa Junior College and attended The University of Memphis on a football scholarship. After graduating with a BA in psychology I played 2 seasons of club rugby in Sydney, Australia. After I returned home I served in the US Air Force as an administrative officer for 4 years, handling fitness programs for several units among other duties. After leaving the Air Force I attended graduate school at Old Dominion University, receiving MSEd degrees in Sport Management and Exercise Science & Wellness. I served as a strength and conditioning intern at Hampton University and was later hired on as the assistant strength and conditioning coach. After leaving Hampton, I moved my family to Niceville, FL, where I stood up the fitness testing program at Eglin AFB. I was promoted to the position of Military Fitness Program Liaison, where I supervised the testing program, led operations at the Eglin Field House performance training facility, and developed new programs for military members and trained the staff. I have been assigned to work with ETSU's ROTC program, and I'm pursuing the sport physiology PhD track. My research interests involve asymmetry and strength imbalances in athletes and hormonal responses to resistance training. I currently live in Johnson City with my wife Erin,  daughter Brenna, and son Tyler.

Jana Hollins, MS

I was born and raised in Manchester, TN. In 2010, I received a B.S. in Exercise Science from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Then, I moved across the country to pursue my master’s degree at Montana State University (2012). While at Montana State, I had the opportunity to work with the track and field team as a volunteer assistant coach. Now back in my home state, I am pursuing my Ph.D. in Sports Performance here at East Tennessee State University. My primary goal after completing my degree is to coach collegiate track and field, with a secondary goal of teaching at the collegiate level.

Alex Harrison, MS, CSCS, USAW-1, USATF-2

I am from Edmonds, and then Bellingham, Washington, which resides about 100 miles north of Seattle, and is for all intents and purposes the most northwest corner of the continental US.  I completed my BS in Kinesiology and my MS in Human Movement and Performance at Western Washington University in 2010 and 2011, respectively.  My thesis was on the topic of postactivation potentiation and I hope to continue researching it at ETSU.  Following 2011, I became an undergrad again and earned a minor in biology and a minor in chemistry to broaden my base for the higher level study of sport physiology.
During my career at WWU I competed in track and field as a decathlete at the NCAA Division II level, and plan to continue training for the decathlon as a PhD student at here at ETSU.  I would eventually like to hold a position as a collegiate track and field coach, and part time researcher and instructor.