Theresa Tiso earned her BS and MS in Physical Education and New York State Health Education Certification from Cortland State, New York. As a Cortland exchange student, she received 18 credits from the Deutsche Sporthochschule in Cologne, Germany.
As an associate professor in the Physical Therapy Department, School of Health Technology Management, she is primarily responsible for teaching exercise nutrition, wellness and fitness, and social issues in health in the transitional D- Physical Therapy program. As a member of the Physical Education department from 1981 to 2004, Professor Tiso taught fitness, wellness, nutrition courses, served as department chairperson, and directed the 18-credit Graduate Coaching Certificate Program in the interdisciplinary Masters of Arts and Liberal Studies offered in the School of Professional Development, developing a fully online program in 2003. From 1981 to 2000, Ms. Tiso coached varsity volleyball, successfully transitioning the program from Division III to Division I status, culminating in 2005 with her induction into the Stony Brook University Sports Hall of Fame.
Professor Tiso focuses her teaching and research activities in the areas of exercise nutrition, wellness, obesity prevention in children, physical activity for older adults, as well as gender and sport, and coaching and leadership issues in education. She has presented at numerous conferences and invited lectures in the past 30 years including many presentations to students, faculty, and staff at Stony Brook. As the founding Director of the Wellness Living/Learning Center, she developed and taught classes in the 24-credit Wellness minor, the Federated Learning Community-Special Topics Minor, “The Sixties,” and the Human Development Undergraduate College. She currently offers sport nutrition elective for the Registered Dietetic Interns in the Department of Family Medicine, teaches sociology of sport, and of the body, and continues her lifelong professional and personal involvement in physical activity and wellness in the School of Health Technology and Management. As a doctoral student in the Stony Brook University Sociology department, Professor Tiso has recently focused on the sociology of science with an emphasis on the body, gender, and health issues.
