Dr. Rebecca Schultz has a strong background and interest in both basic and applied sciences. She earned her undergraduate degree in Athletic Training from the University of North Dakota after completing two years as a Christian Ministries major at Grove City College. She completed her M.S. in Exercise Science from the University of Southern Mississippi, two years toward her Ph.D. at the Pennsylvania State University, and graduated with a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of South Dakota. While her primary passions are advising and teaching, Dr. Schultz has also been engaged in research and clinical activity. Her dissertation examined the effects of long-term exercise on cardiac function and ventricular remodeling in heart-failure-prone rats. Her favorite classes to teach are EXS220, Nutrition; EXS310, Exercise Physiology; EXS344, Cardiovascular Physiology and Electrocardiography; and EXS410, Exercise for Special Populations.
Dr. Schultz has served on and chaired numerous USF committees, such as the Faculty Development and Academic Policies committees, as well as two terms as Faculty Association Chairperson. Currently, she serves as the Secretary for the Faculty Association and as Co-Chair of the Social Sciences Academic Area. From 2008 to 2013, Dr. Schultz served as the Title III Project Director overseeing a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to start the USF School of Nursing. During that time she served on the admissions committees for the School of Nursing and continues to serve on its Nursing Community of Interest Board.
Dr. Schultz teaches a variety of courses in the Exercise Science major. She has also taught SDV100 (Freshman Orientation), Research Methods, and LAR111 and LAR112 (Writing and Intellectual Traditions I and II). In 2011, Dr. Schultz developed EXS319, Service Learning, as a way for EXS majors to serve the local community by engaging in the needs of the underserved, while also gaining valuable skills as future professionals and citizens.
Dr. Schultz and her husband, Todd, have three children.