Specialities: Research and Assessment

Dr. McFadden has 15 combined years of experience in collegiate recreation and higher education. She received her master’s degree in Recreation Administration from Central Michigan University. After receiving her master’s she worked as the Coordinator of Facilities for University Recreation before pursuing a doctoral degree. Dr. McFadden received her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with an emphasis in Higher Education from Virginia Tech where she served as a Graduate Assistant in the Dean of Students Office and as an adjunct faculty at Radford University in the Recreation, Parks and Leisure program. Her first full-time faculty position was for the Sport and Recreation Management program at James Madison University where she taught college student development theory for the campus recreation graduate program. She is now an Assistant Professor at Elon University in Sport and Event Management and a member of the CORE Collaborative.

As a regular presenter at professional conferences, Dr. McFadden’s areas of interest include leadership, college student development, assessment, student engagement, and survey development and validation methods. She recently published an article entitled, “Development and Validation of the Sense of Competence Scale-Revised (SCS-R)” in the Journal of Applied Measurement (2013). University administrators can use the SCS-R to modify an institutions academic and social environment to enhance the development of the intellectual, physical, and interpersonal competencies of college students. Dr. McFadden currently serves as co-convener for the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Leadership Commission and as faculty for the NIRSA School of Collegiate Recreation.