ELYSSA GAGE
Staff Writer
Teaching, research and faith. That is what has brought Priscilla MacRae, professor of Sports Medicine, to teach at Pepperdine University. “I’ve always known I wanted to teach,” she explained in an interview, “ever since I was a TA (teacher’s assistant) here in anatomy my senior year.”
MacRae has become a popular Pepperdine professor who has made a name for herself in, among other areas, research on the aging process. “We will all die eventually,” MacRae says, but she focuses on life quality and how it can be made better in the later years.
MacRae returned to Pepperdine, where she graduated in 1978, because she wanted to be able to be open about her faith as well as relate it to her teaching. She quotes Psalm 139:14: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The verse demonstrates her belief that it is our responsibility to take care of our bodies, our minds and our souls and that these three are tightly intertwined.
“Trying to integrate them,” she says, “is always the challenge in our busy lifestyles.”
MacRae graduated as valedictorian from Pepperdine with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, kinesiology. She returned to Pepperdine full-time in 1985 and now teaches human anatomy, research methods, motor development, motor learning and motor control.
MacRae is also the director of the Motor Behavior Laboratory and is also conducting research along with her husband and fellow professor Holden MacRae and six of her students. Their research focuses on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and they are seeking ways to maintain performance and decrease soreness with post-exercise interventions.
MacRae renamed her field “exercise science” and defines Sports Medicine as the study of “how the body functions during movement. How does exercise affect the 11 different systems?” She chose that field because of her fascination with the human body.
In that field, she does have a preference: “I was always more interested in how it affected me mentally.”
How she affects her students though is plain and clear. As freshman Alexa Ramos put it, “Professor MacRae is a wonderful person.” Her students respect her and they appreciate her kindness as well as her intellect. Ramos also commented on how “very organized and structured” MacRae is as well as how effective her teaching is and how much material is covered in so little time.
Many students consider her classes as “hard,” but general consensus seems to mark them as worthwhile.
MacRae is a professor with a very human face to her students. “She really cares about you,” freshman Shannon Shae said. “She knew everyone’s name immediately and always says hello and smiles.”
MacRae started her career as a racquet sport activity specialist at the University of Texas in Austin after obtaining her master’s in exercise science at the University of Arizona in 1979. For her doctorate in motor behavior at the University of Texas, she studied rats’ neurological reactions.
05-18-2007