An exceptional pitcher for the Cortland baseball squads during the mid-1970's, Garth Tymeson has distinguished himself as an outstanding professor and administrator at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Northern Illinois University.
He joined UW-La Crosse in 1990 as associate dean in the College of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, one of the largest colleges of its type in the nation. He added the duties of director of university graduate studies from 1997-2001. He served as interim dean for the College of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Teacher Education, which encompassed four academic departments — education studies, exercise and sport science, health education and health promotion, and recreation management and therapeutic recreation — and intercollegiate athletics, between 2000-03.
As part of his graduate school recruitment duties at UW-La Crosse, Tymseon has partnered with SUNY Cortland to help 25 Cortland students obtain their master’s degrees at the Wisconsin college.
Tymseon, who teaches courses in adapted physical education, research methods and grant seeking in the Department of Exercise and Sports Science, has procured more than $2 million in grants and contracts for a variety of projects, including preparing physical educators to teach children with disabilities, youth sports and educational enrichment programs for children from low-income families.
A native of Troy, N.Y., Tymeson attended Catholic Central High School and Hudson Valley Community College, where he earned an associate’s degree in physical education and liberal arts. He matriculated to SUNY Cortland in 1973 and excelled both on the baseball diamond and in the classroom.
The right-handed hurler, who produced 14 victories in two seasons, still ranks fourth on the school’s all-time list for best career earned-run average with his 1.56 mark. He threw 144 strikeouts in 155 2/3 innings to remain among Cortland’s top 10 career best in that category.
Tymeson graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1975. He earned a master’s degree in physical education at SUNY Brockport, where he assisted with International Special Olympics events and did research on the motor development of children who are deaf and blind.
He was an adapted physical education and special education instructor at the School of the Holy Childhood in Rochester, N.Y., from 1976-78. He earned his Ph.D. in kinesiology with emphases on adapted physical education and special education at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas.
Tymeson joined the Northern Illinois University physical education faculty in 1981 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1987. While there, he directed the Special Physical Education Teaching-Research Clinic, coordinated the graduate program in adapted physical education teacher preparation and wrote and directed U.S. Department of Education Teacher Preparation Grants.
The author of numerous scholarly works on physical activity and the health of individuals with disabilities, Tymeson and his wife, Martha, have three children: Kyle, a sophomore at Clemson University; Ryan, a high school senior; and Marissa, an eighth grader.
