Kristen Konkol

Kristen Konkol is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Exercise Science. In the department, she teaches courses such as structural kinesiology for performance enhancement and injury prevention, scientific principles of conditioning, and concepts of fitness. She joined Falk College as an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Exercise Science in Fall 2020.

Prior to joining Falk in 2020, the Department of Exercise Science was positioned within Syracuse University’s School of Education, where Konkol has served as adjunct and then Assistant Professor since 2017, teaching several courses in the department and running the internship program. She also served as the I-Move Program Coordinator and Dance Minor Coordinator.

Previously, Konkol was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Performance, Exercise Science/ Physiology at the Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she taught courses such as individualized exercise, structural kinesiology, exercise testing and programming, aerobic conditioning, and concepts of fitness, among others. She also held an adjunct faculty position there, as well as coaching positions at the Gustavus Adolphus College. At the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa, Konkol held several titles, including lecturer, lab instructor, manager in the Human Performance Laboratory, and performance specialist for youth, college and professional athletes.

Konkol’s research interests include sport specific training; speed, agility, and quickness training; athletic performance testing; strength and conditioning; exercise immunology; and global perspectives in human performance. Konkol’s work is published in the Cardiovascular Journal of Africa, Sport Sciences for Health, Children, Sports and Exercise Medicine Open Journal, and International Journal of Exercise Science.

From 2004 to 2006, she served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Guyana, South America. Konkol is a Certified Performance Enhancement Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Konkol earned her Ph.D. in Sports Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa in 2013, with an emphasis in pediatric exercise immunology. She earned an M.A. in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota with an Exercise Physiology emphasis and a graduate minor in Complementary and Alternative Therapy and Healing Practices. She earned her B.S. in Exercise Science with a Cardiac Rehabilitation emphasis from the University of Toledo, where she was a Division I collegiate athlete.