Erin Kaye Howie Hickey, an associate professor in the College of Education and Health Professions' Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation, has been selected as a 2024-25 Fulbright U.S. Scholar for Australia.

Fulbright fellowships, distributed by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Program, provide awardees with opportunities to teach and conduct research abroad while also working to establish long-term relationships between people and foreign nations.

During Howie Hickey's year in Australia, she'll work on a research project at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, titled "States of Play: The Impact of Recess Policies on Rural Children's Health and Learning." 

"I'm excited to have this opportunity to follow the College of Education and Health Professions' previous Fulbright Scholars and to represent the U of A, home of J. William Fulbright," Howie Hickey said. "It will be a great opportunity to share and build upon the recess work we've been doing in Arkansas, collaborate with world experts in children's physical activity and play, and share international perspectives with students of all ages."

Her research project will focus on three key impacts: providing pilot data for future grant applications to implement recess policies and practices to improve health and learning for all children, working with the world's first digital child research center, strengthening an international network of school physical activity researchers and providing meaningful international experiences between Australian and U.S. educational stakeholders. 

Howie Hickey will join a long and illustrious list of Fulbright Program alumni, including 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows and thousands of leaders and world-renowned experts in academia and beyond. More than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists from over 155 countries have participated in the program since it began in 1946.

She also joins William F. McComas, John Pijanowski, Vicki Collet, Michael Daugherty, Barbara Shadden and G. David Gearhart as College of Education and Health Professions faculty to previously participate in the Fulbright Program.

Howie Hickey's research at the U of A focuses on children's physical activity and the effects of physical activity on educational outcomes. She also serves as the faculty adviser for Exercise is Medicine On Campus, a faculty-student research team and RSO working to promote physical activity and its many health benefits around campus.

She received a Bachelor of Science in kinesiological science from the University of Maryland and her Ph.D. in exercise science from the University of South Carolina. She currently serves as a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science at Curtin University in Perth. The ultimate goal of her research is to promote positive physical activity behaviors to enhance physical and mental health across the lifespan.