About

Tom Trendowski is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Specialties. He is the program director of the undergraduate and M.A.T. program which can lead to an initial license in K-12 health and physical education.

Trendowski earned a bachelor’s degree in 2012 from Syracuse University in Health and PE where also played tight end for the Orange. At the time of his acceptance to graduate school, the University of Illinois was rated the top Kinesiology Program in the nation when adjusted for size according to the National Academy of Kinesiology. He received both his M.A. and PhD. from Illinois in 2018 under Dr. Amy Woods in Pedagogical Kinesiology. Trendowski briefly taught as a visiting professor at SUNY Cortland in upstate New York before joining UNCP in 2017.

His research interests include faculty socialization along with specific issues that impact current K-12 teachers. Trendowski has written manuscripts published in various journals including JOPERD, the International Journal of Kinesiology, and JTPE. Trendowski consistently presents at the NC SHAPE conference and often has students present with him. He receives high teaching evaluation scores from students consistently and has had several students earn beginning teacher of the year from their perspective county. Trendowski has done multiple outreach programs over the years and conducts physical education classes for homeschool students. Click here to view Dr. Trendowski's curriculum vitae.