Obituary of Bridget A. Duoos

Dr. Bridget Ann Duoos, PhD in Sports Biomechanics, of Cambridge, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on June 21, 2016. She was 63 years old. Bridget was a Professor and held a Department Chair at the University of St. Thomas Health and Human Performance. She is survived by her loving husband and friend of 21 years Armen Hitzemann; parents Robert & Gloria Duoos; siblings Deborah Duoos, Tim (Lynn) Duoos, and Lisa Duoos; special nieces and nephews Lindsey (Sean) Williams, Ian Gearhart, Tyler and Christie Duoos and great niece Ingrid Sophia Williams; and her favorite Springer Spaniels Tor and Trine. Commentary from Dean of St. Thomas University, Terry Langan Bridget came to St. Thomas in 1995 and joined what at that time was the Department of Physical Education. Among the courses that Bridget taught in those early years were multiple sections each semester of PHED 100, the physical education course required of every St. Thomas student. That course included, among other content, the (notorious) swim test required of every student for graduation. Over the years, Bridget worked hard with her colleagues to build the department into the very successful Department of Health and Human Performance that exists today, with hundreds of students majoring in Exercise Science, Health Promotion, Public Health Studies and Physical and Health Education for teaching candidates. Bridget had not given a swim test in more than a decade. Instead, she spent her time teaching Biomechanics (her specialty area), Kinesiology, and Exercise Science Research Methods (perhaps her favorite course). Building the department did not always follow a smooth path. In 2010-2011 the department was down to three full-time faculty members (and searching for a fourth) when both of Bridget’s departmental colleagues died. Somehow, Bridget held things together and continued building the successful department that we know today. Along the way, she was sometimes advising 150+ majors singlehandedly, and doing a great job of it. Truth be told, before then even students who were not Bridget’s advisees would come to Bridget to ask for a careful review of their academic plans, just to be certain. I don’t know anyone who was a better adviser to students than Bridget was, not only in terms of making certain that all of the academic requirements had been met, but also in terms of offering helpful (and appreciated) advice on future career plans. To see how Bridget’s department has changed in the past twenty years, I would invite you to take a stroll on the second floor of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Center (AARC). There in the hallway you will find numerous student research posters, many of which list Bridget as the faculty collaborator. In 1995 you would have been unlikely to see even one of these posters in the Department of Physical Education. Now, HHP is one of our more successful departments in terms of student research. This is due in large part to the curriculum that Bridget and her colleagues built, including the Research Methods course that Bridget so loved to teach. She loved getting students interested in doing research. A few years ago she came to my office and announced that she had good news and bad news. The good news was that seven students had research projects of such high quality that they had applied to present their work at the national meetings in the discipline. The bad news, Bridget added, was that “all seven had been accepted!” Incredulously, I asked how that could possibly be viewed as bad news. Her reply, “I can’t afford to send them all.” We found the money and thus began a tradition of our HHP students presenting at national conferences, something no one could have even imagined in 1995. What you won’t see on those research posters is how much Bridget loved her students and how much love she received in return. I was present in her hospital room a few weeks ago when a colleague read a lovely letter written by one of Bridget’s many former students. I remember thinking at the time that a letter like that one would be a prized possession for anyone who had spent their career working with students. I know that all of us are dedicated to our students or else we wouldn’t be here. But somehow Bridget seemed to take that dedication to another level (or two or three). And she was so proud of her students and her department. I loved listening to her gush about both. Bridget’s own professional development mirrored the growing success of her department. Since 2009 I count one book, more than a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles, more than two dozen peer-reviewed conference presentations and nearly five dozen student research presentations. Her professional colleagues honored here with a statewide award and a regional award during that same time period in recognition of her many contributions to the discipline. Bridget was also a great friend, with an enjoyable sense of humor. And what a (sometimes mischievous) smile! I got to know her well as associate dean, serving on a couple of search committees with her. Especially enjoyable were the candidate dinners. I don’t remember all of the candidates, but I remember all of the desserts! If there was chocolate on the menu, we ordered it. I described it as Terry and Bridget’s chocolate tour of the Twin Cities. Once, in appreciation of something probably unimportant that I had done for her, Bridget brought me three bars of fancy chocolate. A month later she asked me what I had decided to bake using the chocolate. My one-word response was “Bake?” She hadn’t told me it was baking chocolate. We had a good laugh. Another time, after I became dean, she came by the office with exciting news. She had just come from a candidate lunch on campus (the department was doing yet another search) and food service had provided a piece of flourless chocolate cake for dessert. She was so excited that food service now had flourless chocolate cake. I teased her and said that I could not believe that she would come by to torture me by telling me that she had had flourless chocolate cake for lunch and that I had not! A half hour later she returned with three pieces of flourless chocolate cake for me!! It seems, she reported excitedly, that at any point in time food service has a cooler filled with rows and rows of flourless chocolate cake. I have put that information to good use when ordering lunches for monthly department chair meetings ever since.