Dr. Joe Frost speaks to the UIW community at the Lifelong Health, Fitness, and Learning Through Play Conference.

Dr. Joe Frost speaks to the UIW community at the Lifelong Health, Fitness, and Learning Through Play Conference.

Sponsored by the Joe L. Frost Play Research Collection and the Dreeben School of Education, the Lifelong Health, Fitness, and Learning Through Play Conference was held at UIW on April 5. Dr. Stuart Brown, author of a report to Gov. John Connally and the lead psychiatrist writing an exhaustive two-year report with a panel of experts to explain Charles Whitmann’s actions at the University of Texas Tower in 1966, spoke during the event.

The keynote speaker for the conference was Dr. Joe L. Frost, UIW’s benefactor of the Frost Play Research Collection at the Mabee Library. Frost has more than 30 years of work on early childhood and children’s play environments.

A pioneer in research on play, Brown has worked on behalf of children and their right to play. He is the author of several National Geographic documentaries, several books and many articles. He is also the head of the National Institute for Play, a supporter of the conference, and has recently launched the Encyclopedia of Play Science.

“Play is essential to the fabric of life of all healthy children, teens, and adults. The conference offered participants and our community an in-depth look at the importance of play for all ages,” said Dr. Mary Ruth Moore, professor with the Dreeben School of Education. “And it aligns UIW with two of the biggest names in the field of education and medicine.”