Biography

While teaching undergraduate classes during her assistantship at URI, Penny Steen realized a true passion for teaching in academia. Prior to joining the faculty at URI, she taught fitness and wellness adult education programs for many years, and has worked in clinical fitness (cardiac rehabilitation and maintenance), as well as commercial, corporate, and community fitness/wellness settings. As a Certification Specialist and Continuing Education Provider for the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, she has presented workshops, taught certification classes, and networked with many professional fitness/wellness educators across the United States, Europe, and Brazil. She has taught training workshops for instructors of group exercise, yoga, personal training and various youth fitness programs.  She recently served as the chair of the Personal Training Committee for the American College of Sports Medicine and contributed to their national exam development team. 

Her mission in pedagogy is to inspire the desire for life-long learning. Her goal is for students to leave each course with the desire to learn more than what they read in the text or were exposed to in the classroom. Her experience provides a valuable reference in helping students realize the practical application of their classroom studies. She looks for opportunities to use humor, demonstration and role-playing to bring the classroom to life.

She is a firm believer in the preventive benefits of physical activity. She believes our personal choice to practice healthy lifestyle behaviors not only impacts our own lives, but lives of our children and others as we lead by example. She is deeply inspired by her son who completed his doctoral program in Statistical Evaluation. Though he is physically challenged with Cerebral Palsy, he demonstrates immeasurable strength as he manages the inconvenience of needing crutches to maneuver through day-to-day tasks.   Her daughter recently completed her double major in Musical Theatre and Dance Performance at Rhode Island College. She inspires her mom to work hard, but also to remember to laugh, dance and play everyday.