Don Hellison’s Scholarship Reconsidered

Abstract

Purpose: Don Hellison’s scholarship made a lasting impact on the academic literature, policy, and practice of physical education and sport pedagogy. In this essay, we summarize and interpret Don’s perspective on scholarship, his own work, and the literature that it spawned.Method: Don’s work, published and unpublished, as well as the rapidly expanding body of teaching personal and social responsibility literature was analyzed using Boyer’s comprehensive framework for scholarship reconsidered.Results: Don was a strong advocate for broader definitions of scholarship in kinesiology, whose work integrated the scholarship of discovery, integration, application, and teaching. This influence remains evident in the teaching personal and social responsibility literature.Discussion/Conclusions: Amid calls for broader and more flexible definitions of scholarship in higher education, Don was a role model who demonstrated what is possible in this regard in the field of kinesiology.