Kinesiology faculty Cathy McKay receives Madison Scholar Award for CHBS

Cathy McKay, faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology and Executive Director of the Morrison Bruce Center, is the recipient of the 2025 Madison Scholar Award from the College of Health and Behavioral Studies.

The Madison Scholar Award recognizes superlative achievement in scholarship for CHBS faculty who have completed at least five years of service at JMU. Criteria include demonstrating outstanding scholarship and research that has been disseminated through peer reviewed publication and/or other means.

McKay has an extensive and impressive record of scholarship throughout her tenure at JMU. She has published over 60-peer reviewed articles and four book chapters, and has given numerous regional, national and international peer-reviewed presentations since joining the Department of Kinesiology in 2015. She has also led and participated in productive research teams in the areas of Paralympic and disability sport; inclusivity, ableism and attitude change; and sexuality education,

The JMU Paralympic Skill Lab (PSL) has been a focal point of many of McKay’s research endeavors. The PSL offers JMU students an opportunity to learn about sport-focused disability awareness and engage in educational activities with Paralympic athletes. Numerous national and international research partnerships along with eleven original research manuscripts have been produced in the past seven years showcasing PSL as an evidence-based practice in changing attitudes and perceptions toward disability. Additionally, McKay has led Parasport education initiatives in K-12 schools, collecting data and publishing research that seeks to understand and describe the experiences of K-12 students in Paralympic School Day interventions.

McKay spearheaded two international teams of faculty members, one for a project with the International Committee of the Red Cross, where she and her team collected data related to wheelchair sport participation in areas of armed conflict at India’s first international wheelchair basketball tournament, producing three publications in high impact journals and three international presentations showcasing their findings. This led to her next project with the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA), in which McKay recruited a team seeking to understand and describe the experience of players (adult and youth), parents, and coaches involved with the NWBA and adaptive sports programming.

McKay also mentors undergraduate and graduate student research, including mentoring PhD students across the state of Virginia and internationally. At JMU, she created numerous opportunities for students to meaningfully participate in research processes and facilitates peer-reviewed student presentations at regional and national conferences on an annual basis.

Her collection of published manuscripts includes many with students as first authors, demonstrating her commitment to working collaboratively, supporting emerging scholars, and elevating the students of JMU.

McKay’s scholarship goals align with the mission of both CHBS and JMU: engage undergraduate and graduate students in collaborative research, cultivate national and international research partnerships that drive real world progress, secure grant funding to study education programs that showcase inclusive excellence and create a shift in paradigm related to ableism, and advance the research on Allport’s contact theory as it pertains to perceptions of disability. McKay is an accomplished teacher-scholar who is actively engaged in advancing the understanding of best-practices in inclusive and academic excellence.