Catherine D. Ennis, Ph.D.
Professor
Curriculum and Instruction
Catherine Ennis is a professor of kinesiology and curriculum and instruction in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland - College Park. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Lynchburg College (VA), a Master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. She previously held a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Professor Ennis’ research focuses on curriculum theory
and development in physical education with specific applications
to urban school settings. She has published over 50 refereed
research articles in journals in education and physical education.
She has made over 100 presentations to international, national, 
and regional audiences and has co-authored two books, The
Curriculum Process in Physical Education (1995, Brown
& Benchmark) and Student Learning in Physical Education:
Applying Research to Enhance Instruction (1996, Human
Kinetics). Dr. Ennis has been the pedagogy section editor
for Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and
is a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of
Teaching in Physical Education, Sport, Education, and Society,
and The European Physical Education Review.
Professor Ennis is an Active Fellow in the American Academy of Kinesiology (AAKPE) and Physical Education and a Fellow in the Research Consortium of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD). In 1991, she served as chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Academy of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (AAHPERD) and Chair of the American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group on Research on Learning and Instruction in Physical Education from 1999-2001. In 1995, she delivered the Scholar Lecture for the American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group on Research on Learning and Instruction in Physical Education.
Dr. Ennis was named the Lansdowne Scholar at the University of Victoria, British Columbia in 1998. In 1999 she was invited to present the Research Consortium Scholar Lecture for the American Alliance for Health Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Dr. Ennis received the Honor Award from the Curriculum and Instruction Academy of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education in 2002. She received the University of Maryland, College of Health and Human Performance, Muriel Sloan Communitarian Award for her service to public schools in 1997, the Celebration of Teaching Award from the University of Maryland, Center for Teaching Excellence in 1993, and the Doris W. Sands Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Maryland, College of Health and Human Performance in 2000. She was inducted into the Lynchburg College Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
